Eternally Yours
by Lyowyn
Summary: Snape asks Hermione to stay after class and help him with a potion, will romance bloom? Not HBP compatable.
1. A Strange Prposal

Chapter One  
  
A strange Proposal  
  
'Miss Granger,' Snape said from behind his desk. Hermione's head snapped up from where she sat before her empty cauldron pouring over notes. 'Would, you be so kind as to stay after class, I'd like a word,' Snape sneered from behind his desk.  
  
The bell rang and Harry and Ron looked expectantly at Hermione. 'Run along then,' Hermione told them, 'I have Arithmancy next anyway.'  
  
Harry and Ron looked at her sympathetically and then left to go to Divination.  
  
'Just wait in my office if you would.' Snape gestured towards a door on his left and began putting potion ingredients back onto the shelf.  
  
Hermione went into the rather dismal room the potions master used as an office, and sat in a chair before the large oak desk in the middle of the room. Several minutes passed, during which Hermione gazed interestedly around at the numerous books placed on a shelf to her right, before Snape came in and sat behind the desk.  
  
Professor Snape folded his hands on the desk and stared down at them. He remained silent, and Hermione wondered if she should say something, but was saved the turmoil when Snape began to speak.  
  
'Miss Granger,' Snape still hadn't looked up from his hands. 'I realize that this is a personal question, but I would appreciate it if you answer honestly, lying will not help you in any way under the circumstances. But... are you a virgin?' he asked raising his head slightly.  
  
'Professor!' Hermione exclaimed, 'That is a very personal question.'  
  
'Just answer the question Miss Granger,' Snape sneered.  
  
Hermione looked at him questionably and then with a quavering voice she answered, 'Y-yes Professor.'  
  
Snape looked up at her, expressionless, and unfolded his hands. 'Well good,' he said with a surprised tinge in his voice. 'Allow me to explain.' Hermione gestured for him to go on. 'I need some assistance with a rather difficult potion. It involves unicorns, and for some mindless symbolic reason it needs to be brewed by a witch,' he paused for a moment and then added, 'A virgin.'  
  
Hermione looked at him slightly perplexed. 'You want me to brew this potion?' She asked.  
  
'Well yes, with a bit of help from myself,' Snape said looking at her sternly.  
  
Hermione frowned, 'Isn't there a Slytherin girl that you could have do this instead?'  
  
'Ideally yes,' Snape frowned. 'But for several reasons that wouldn't work out. Slytherin is populated by a large number of loose women. The few witches who are competent enough to brew a potion of this difficulty are not virtuous enough to qualify. Also the potion is for the order. So now that I know you're a virgin, you're involved in the order, and as much as I hate to admit it you are more than competent enough to brew a potion ten times as difficult as this one; all of this adds up to the fact that you, Hermione, are the perfect candidate. The only qualified candidate I might add.' Snape folded his hands into his lap once he had finished.  
  
Hermione felt slightly flattered and smiled inwardly. If Snape had just paid her a compliment she could be assured that it most definitely had been earned. Hermione couldn't remember ever hearing Snape compliment a Gryffindor in her entire five years at the school.  
  
'Well then Granger,' Snape started. 'If you'll met me here in my office this Saturday at Seven p.m. we can get started. This potion takes an unbelievable long time to make, and while I'm not looking forward to it, we might as well get it over with.'  
  
'Yes professor,' Hermione answered.  
  
'Well then, if there's nothing else, you had best get to class. You wouldn't want to miss but a single word of professor Vector's rapture enducing lecture on whatever useless topic you happen to be studying at the moment, now would you?'  
  
'No professor,' and with that she left Snape's office and began the trek to Arithmancy.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Later that day at Lunch Hermione reiterated her conversation with professor Snape to Ron and Harry.  
  
'So you mean that Snape said he wanted your help to brew a potion for the Order of the Phoenix, and he actually told you it was because you are good at potions?' Ron asked grinning.  
  
'Well yes, and because I'm not a slutty Slytherin bimbo.'  
  
Ron turned red at the mention of Hermione's virginity. Harry just started to laugh, 'That is rich, Hermione.'  
  
Professor Snape glared down at Hermione from the staff table.  
  
'And Snape wants me to meet him in his office on Saturday night to get started.' Hermione said looking at Harry.  
  
'Isn't this Saturday a Hogsmede weekend?' Ron asked.  
  
'Yeah it is,' Harry said.  
'Well good,' Hermione said with a slightly defiant tone in her voice. 'I can go and have a bit of fun before I'm condemned to the torture of spending my Saturday night being fumigated in the dungeon with Snape.' 


	2. Potion Making With Professor Snape

Chapter Two  
  
Potion Making With Professor Snape  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the idea and my damn computer.  
  
Authors Note: Thank you for the beautiful reviews. Oh, and whoever told me to put the spaces between the paragraphs thanx a bunch, it looks way cleaner this way. Now if I could only trick the damn thing into making my quotations quotations instead of funny symbols.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The rest of the week went by quickly, Hermione figured this was because she was dreading the coming weekend. Before she knew it Friday had come and went, and Hermione found herself sitting in the Three Broomsticks with Harry and Ron drinking warm butterbeer.  
  
'You have to go and help Snape tonight don't you?' Harry asked.  
  
Ron choked on his butterbeer and looked up at Hermione, 'I'd forgotten.'  
  
'I hadn't,' Hermione said grimly.  
  
'So don't go,' Ron said confidently, 'He can't make you help him.'  
  
'It's for the order Ron,' Hermione exclaimed exasperatedly. 'I have to do it. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't do my part to help the order. Everyone else has done so much already. The only thing I've done is help clean out Head Quarters.'  
  
'I feel the same way,' Ron admitted, 'But I still wouldn't go if I were you.'  
  
'I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't go, this potion is probably very important if Snape asked me to help him with it.'  
  
'You're a far better person than I am then,' Ron said shaking his head.  
  
'So you are going to go then?' Harry asked.  
  
'Yes, I feel as though I have to,' Hermione said solemnly.  
  
'Well I guess it's your funeral then,' Harry said. 'Let's go to the shrieking shack,' he offered and then got really quiet. Hermione could tell that he missed Sirius.  
  
'Ok, Harry,' Hermione said putting her hand on his. 'We can go up the hill if you want.'  
  
They finished their butterbeer, and started moving towards the door, but stopped as professor Snape stepped in off the street.  
  
Snape looked straight at Hermione who was standing only a few feet in front of him. 'Good day Miss Granger,' Snape inclined his head. 'Don't forget, my room at seven.'  
  
'Yes professor,' she nodded and led Harry and Ron out into the street.  
  
'What was that all about?' Ron asked once he was sure that Snape couldn't hear him.  
  
'What?' Hermione asked, knowing full well that Ron knew all about Snape's potion.  
  
'Good day Miss Granger,' Ron said in a mocking high pitched voice.  
  
'Oh,' Hermione said looking down, 'I don't know. I didn't really notice.'  
  
'Well, let's go up to the shack,' Harry said, starting up towards where it sat at the top of the hill.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione arrived in the potions room at seven sharp.  
  
'I'm glad to see that you are punctual Miss Granger,' Snape said as he set a cauldron down on a table near the front of the room.  
  
'Will you go into my store room and get a boomslang skin?' Snape asked her.  
  
'Yes professor,' Hermione studied him. She didn't think he knew about the Boomslang skin that she had stolen from his stores to make a polyjuice potion in her second year. It didn't take her too long to find the boomslang skin, and she brought it out and set it down on the table next to the cauldron.  
  
'In my office Miss Granger,' Snape said picking up his cauldron and putting it on his desk. 'We can't do this in one night, it will be much too in the way over there.'  
  
Hermione picked up the Boomslang skin and brought it into Snape's office.  
  
'You need to slice that up.' Snape gestured to the boomslang skin and handed Hermione a scalpel.  
  
They remained silent for a long time, Hermione slicing the boomslang skin, and Snape prodding the flames under the cauldron with his wand to keep the heat even.  
  
'Did you have a good time in the village this afternoon?' Snape grimaced as he questioned her.  
  
Hermione looked up at him quizzically as she added the boomslang skin to the cauldron. 'Yes,' she answered reluctantly.  
  
Snape nodded silently, 'We need eye of newt and dragon scales,' he informed her, and Hermione rose to get them. Snape stirred the potion until she got back, ingredients in hand. 'Grind the dragon scales into powder.' He handed her a marble bowl and pestle. Hermione obediently began to grind up the dragon scales.  
  
After three hours of diligent potion making Snape closed the book which he had been consulting for the recipe. 'Well, that's all we can do tonight. It needs to simmer for twenty-four hours. You should meet me back in here tomorrow night, again at seven I think, we have to prepare some ingredients before we can add them into the potion at ten.'  
  
Hermione nodded and got up from her seat to go to the door.  
  
'Oh, and Miss Granger,' Snape said from the desk. Hermione looked up at him. 'Thank you,' he said.  
  
Hermione nodded and said, 'Good night professor,' before heading back up to Gryffindor Tower.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
That night as Hermione lay in bed trying to go to sleep, she thought of the events of the day. When she'd returned to Gryffindor Tower, she found the common room empty. This had disappointed her, she'd rather hoped that Harry and Ron would wait up for her.  
  
In any case, she was in no fit state to go to bed. Snape's words kept reverberating in her mind, 'Thank you.' 


	3. Benevolent Butterflies

Chapter Three Benevolent Butterflies ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for my shitty computer.  
  
Authors Note: Sorry it took me so long to update I've been having trouble with my stupid disk and my stupid computer. Thanx to all my reviewers I'll try to thank you by name at the end of the chapter if I have time.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
'He didn't say so much as one cruel word to me all evening,' Hermione told Ron and Harry at breakfast the next morning.  
  
Ron sat staring mouth agape at her. 'And he actually told you 'thank you?" he asked incredulously.  
  
'Yes,' Hermione nodded emphatically.  
  
'Blimey,' Ron said amazed and then asked half jokingly, 'Reckon he fancies you Hermione?'  
  
'No Ron, that's absurd,' Hermione said sternly, but her heart gave a little pang at the thought.  
  
'Well,' Ron said, 'He doesn't usually act so civilized when there's only students around does he? And a muggle-born Gryffindor to boot. I don't know Hermione.'  
  
'Oh Ron! He doesn't want to spend the whole time being cruel to me if he needs my help does he? Dumbledore would be very angry if Snape said something to offend me so that I would have objections to continuing to work on the potion, wouldn't he? You seem to conveniently forget that professor Snape is one of the good guys. He's part of the Order isn't he? He has no reason to be outwardly cruel." But Hermione wasn't as sure as she sounded; Snape's involvement in the Order of the Phoenix never prevented him from being cruel to her before. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
That night when Hermione went into Snape's potions room she found it completely empty. Hermione checked his office and storeroom to make sure he wasn't there and then sat down behind professor Snape's desk to wait for him.  
  
Hermione had begun to doze off when she was awoken to a stern, 'Miss Granger,' from professor Snape.  
  
'Sorry professor,' Hermione said pulling herself awake and standing up. 'Come on the Miss Granger,' Snape said once again leaving the room and going out into the hall. Hermione thought that she say the slightest trace of a smile on his face. She followed him out into the hall. She'd been so flustered that she hadn't noticed before that he was wearing muggle clothes. He was wearing black jeans with his leather boots and a long- sleeved silk button down shirt. His muggle attire defined the proportions of his body more so then his wizard's robes had, his chest was muscled and his body wasn't quite as gaunt as Hermione had thought.  
  
'Professor,' Hermione said, 'Can you tell me where we are going?'  
  
'That should have been quite obvious Miss Granger,' Snape said dully. Hermione only looked up at him perplexedly. 'Oh, very well Miss Granger,' Snape sighed. 'You know for such a bright girl you are exceedingly dim at times. We are going into the forbidden forest. I would have thought that would have been obvious, considering my apparel, but perhaps your deductive reasoning is still a bit drowsy from that nice little nap that you took in my chair.'  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione and professor Snape stood at the edge of the forbidden forest.  
  
'Miss Granger,' Snape turned, 'You might want to do something with your shoes. It rained last night. The forest is bound to be muddy you should put a charm on them or transfigure them into boots.'  
  
'Yes professor,' Hermione said and put a charm on her shoes to make them repel water.  
  
Snape nodded, a little impressed. He had never been very good at charms, mind you Severus Snape was not actually bad at anything; he just didn't excel at charms the way he did at other subjects, such as potions for instance.  
  
'Well then, no reason to delay Miss Granger,' Snape said before leading the way into the forest.  
  
'Lumos,' Hermione and Snape both said at exactly the same time. Their wands lit up casting faint light ahead of them.  
  
'What exactly is it we're looking for professor?' Hermione asked, as she stumbled over a fallen log. She had just regained her footing when she slipped again and fell on her bum.  
  
Snape spun on his heels, and striding over to her, offered his hand to Hermione. She took it and he helped her up. With their faces inches a part Snape smiled and whispered, 'That's a surprise.'  
  
Hermione couldn't help but smile back at him, after all, Severus Snape was being nice to her. She once more followed him through the forest, wondering what they could possibly be doing there. They walked a while longer, and while they followed no path Snape seemed to know where they were going without one. They emerged into a clearing, the ground was covered with dirt and the trees surrounding the clearing were dead. Hermione noticed that the trees were not decaying, simply dead and dried out.  
  
Hermione had an eerie feeling about the place; she whispered softly to herself, 'Nothing throve: For flowers as well expect a cedar grove.'  
  
Snape paused at the center of the circular clearing and spun to look at Hermione, 'That was Robert Browning.'  
  
Hermione nodded, impressed that the head of Slytherin recognized lines from one of a muggle poet's lesser-known works.  
  
Snape smiled and turned back around, kneeling at the center of the clearing. He scooped some of the sand that covered the ground into a glass bottle that he produced out of a shirt pocket.  
  
Hermione looked around critically, 'Was this the surprise?' She asked, thinking that the head of Slytherin house would probably think a dead evil looking clearing was a grand treat.  
  
'Of course not,' Snape said exasperated. 'What kind of surprise would this be? This is just a pit stop,' he stood up.  
  
Hermione turned to him expectantly; he motioned for her to follow him once more through the forest. She obliged, more than happy to be out of the spooky clearing and once more in the dense and dangerous forbidden forest. They had been walking for some time, and Hermione had begun to wonder just how deep the forest extended when a voice from up ahead startled her.  
  
'Severus?'  
  
Snape looked at Hermione and then to the place the voice had emanated from, a little startled himself.  
  
'Severus, is that you?' A strapping blonde centaur with oceanic blue eyes emerged from the vegetation.  
  
Snape let out a relieved sigh, 'Oh, Firenze it's only you.'  
  
Firenze let out a hearty laugh, though Hermione failed to see what was so funny. Firenze looked at Hermione, who was frowning in concentration, and then back to Snape. 'Who's the girl Sev?'  
  
'This is Hermione Granger,' Snape said gesturing towards her. 'She's a student up at the school; she's helping me with that potion that I told you about.'  
  
Firenze nodded, 'Fancy a nightcap?'  
  
Snape smiled a bit mischievously, 'That depends. You don't mind do you Hermione?'  
  
Hermione was a bit taken aback that Snape had called her by her first name, but was interested in the centaur and how it was that Snape had disclosed more about the potion to him than he had to her when she was making it, so she only shook her head. 'No professor, I don't mind.'  
  
Snape smiled at her and then looked back at Firenze, 'Lead the way then mate.'  
  
Firenze smiled and led them through the forest back the way they had come. 'My sister is going to have a fit when she finds out that you have a girl with you,' Firenze said, conveniently ignoring Hermione's presence.  
  
'She's a student,' Snape said, but gave Firenze a sly smile that Hermione didn't see.  
  
Firenze smiled back at him, 'She won't see the distinction I'm afraid.'  
  
Snape grimaced, 'Alas, I fear you are right.'  
  
Hermione was listening to their conversation raptly, but felt as though she was missing something. However, she wasn't left in uncertainty for long as, much to her surprise, a female centaur ran up to them. She had a black coat and long black hair, green eyes, and was wearing a black halter top with silver stars on it.  
  
'Ooh Sevi!' she shrieked as she threw her arms around him.  
  
'Hello Star,' Snape said in a dull manner, shrugging her off of him.  
  
'How come you never visit me anymore?' Star asked pouting.  
  
'Because I am a very busy person, who has no particular liking of people, or centaurs for that matter, who run around squealing and making a spectacle of themselves. I also find you quite annoying, and I have never come to visit you!' Snape said coldly.  
  
Star however was ignoring him, and had begun to stare at Hermione. 'Who is this?' She asked in a simpering false tone.  
  
'This is Hermione,' he answered in an offhand manner that was surely meant to cause Star undue anger and jealousy. Sadly, it seemed as though she chose to unleash her anger out on Hermione.  
  
'And who are you?' She asked angrily.  
  
'I am Hermione,' Hermione said very slowly as though Star was a dimwit and had trouble understanding what she was saying.  
  
'Humph,' Star murmured looking at Hermione indignantly.  
  
Hermione smiled and went to go sit herself down on the fallen log where Snape had seated himself. Snape looked at her appreciatively, and Hermione winked at him. Snape couldn't help but laugh, a relatively new sound to Hermione's ears. Star glared daggers at him with her mouth agape, and stomped off; this caused Hermione to start laughing as well.  
  
Firenze, who had left to go get Brandy, came back with Star glaring at Snape and Hermione over his shoulder. This caused both of them to abruptly fall silent.  
  
'She's nearly as bad as you Sev,' Firenze said and chuckled to himself.  
  
'You mean that you're siding with them,' Star looked at her brother with a mixture of disgust and astonishment on her face.  
  
'Well, he had a point. You are annoying, and you do tend to make a spectacle out of yourself.  
  
'Uh,' Star glared at him, betrayed. 'I hate you Firenze!' She stomped into the darkness.  
  
Firenze laughed and handed his flask to Snape. Hermione watched Snape take a gulp of brandy and then make a cute little grimace. The wind blew in a gust, rippling the leaves. Hermione gave a little shiver and pulled her robes tighter around her. Snape looked at her deeply, his brow worried.  
  
"Do you mind if I light a fire Firenze?" Snape asked taking out his wand.  
  
"Be my guest," Firenze gestured to a round grouping of stones in front of the logs on which the two humans sat. He then sat down himself, lying in the grass next to Snape.  
  
Snape levitated some logs into the circle of stones and then lit them with his wand. Snape pulled Hermione close to him and, with his arm around her, he rubbed her arms trying to warm her up. "Is that better?" Snape asked her almost fondly.  
  
"Much," Hermione said, smiling and cuddling closer to Snape.  
  
Snape smiled, took another swig of brandy, and then made his cute little grimace again. Not thinking, he then passed the flask to Hermione. Much to his surprise, she held the flask perplexedly for a moment and then took a gulp of the brandy. Hermione smiled, savoring the flavor, swallowed without grimacing, and then handed the flask back to Firenze. Snape just stared at her in a stunned silence. Firenze shrugged, took a swig from the flask, and handed it back to Snape.  
  
Snape held the flask in his hands trying to decide whether or not he should pass it back to Hermione. He took a drink to build up his courage, made his cute little grimace, and passed the flask to Hermione.  
  
"Thank you Professor," Hermione said, smiling and taking a swig of brandy. She stared at the flask smiling, "Though, I'd hate to know what the other professors, McGonagall for instance, would think if they knew you were supplying alcohol to a minor." She passed the flask to Firenze.  
  
"And were you to tell any of the other professors, McGonagall for instance, that I did give you alcohol you'll be facing detention every day until you graduate."  
  
"That's a bit stiff, don't you think Sev?" Firenze asked, taking a drink.  
  
"No, I don't think," Snape said, taking the flask.  
  
"Cruel Bastard," Hermione said, clapping her hand over her mouth.  
  
Snape, who had just taken a swig of brandy, snorted and passed the flask to Hermione. "And don't you forget it," he said grinning.  
  
"I doubt you'd let that happen," Hermione said truthfully. She took a swig of brandy, beginning to feel a little lightheaded. "And you're actually friends with him Firenze?" She asked, extending the flask.  
  
"Well, he is a self-righteous pompous little prick," Firenze said taking the flask and giving Snape an appraising look. "But I kind of like him anyway," he handed the flask to Snape without taking a drink.  
  
"True enough," Snape raised the flask as if in toast and took a swig. "I kind of like you too, mate."  
  
They chatted for another half hour or so, laughing and drinking. Hermione sensed a deep friendship between Firenze and Snape; she felt she had only just glimpsed its rind.  
  
"We had better get going," Snape said solemnly. "We still have work to do, and we need to get the new ingredients into that potion by ten o'clock." Snape stood up somewhat reluctantly, brushing himself off. He extended his hand to Hermione and helped her up.  
  
"We should do this again," Firenze said drunkenly.  
  
"Yes," Snape said simply.  
  
"Bring Hermione too," Firenze continued, "She's fun."  
  
"I suppose," Snape said raising his eyebrow at Hermione. "See you later." He pulled Hermione back into the forest proper.  
  
Hermione was feeling extraordinarily happy, probably because she was a little drunk, and she found herself practically skipping through the forest after Snape. It seemed only a short time had passed, and then again it might have been the alcohol, when Snape stopped and turned to her.  
  
'Do you hear the river?' Snape asked in a whisper.  
  
Hermione listened carefully, and finally answered, 'Yes.'  
  
'That's where we're headed,' Snape said quietly. 'Keep your eyes open for white stones, they mark the path that we're looking for.'  
  
They began moving in a zigg-zagg pattern towards the sound of the river, all the while looking for white stones. Hermione was beginning to think that the reason they couldn't find the path was because the great Severus Snape had gallantly succeeded in getting them lost when she nearly stumbled over a white rock.  
  
'Hey, I found one,' She called to Snape. Setting her foot to the side, she looked down at the rock, which was glowing, luminescent in the darkness.  
  
Snape pointed his wand at the rock said, 'James Potter is a git,' and looked guiltily over to Hermione. 'I set this path up while I was in school and I never got around to changing the password.'  
  
Hermione looked up and she noticed that a row of white stones had appeared on either side of them, leading off in the direction of the river. The path ended at the river, in front of a waterfall.  
  
Snape tapped the last rock with his wand and said, 'Sirius Black is a coward.' He made no statement of plans to change this password. 'We need to cross the river, and we're going to get wet. The water's not usually this high.'  
  
Hermione looked down at her shoes skeptically. 'My shoes are supposed to repel water, but I don't know if the spell is strong enough for this much water.'  
  
'Well, it can't hurt any, but maybe you should put the spell on your clothes as well.'  
  
Hermione did as she was bid and moved on to do the same to his clothes and shoes.  
  
'Thank you,' Snape said taken aback. He was surprised that Hermione had considered him. He'd been more than prepared to dry himself off once he was finished and had recrossed the river, but if Hermione's spell worked it would save him the trouble and discomfort.  
  
The spell did work, and they crossed the river without discomfort, walking on water.  
  
'Where now?' Hermione asked. Snape pointed to some stone steps that led underneath the waterfall, and then cautiously led the way.  
  
Expecting complete darkness, Hermione was startled by how bright the cave behind the waterfall was. The walls of the cave seemed to glow with green light. However, upon closer inspection, Hermione realized that the green light was actually coming from small round stones that were piled high all around the cave. Hermione knelt and picked one up, it radiated warmth into her hand. She looked up at Snape expectantly.  
  
'The water sprites make them,' he explained.  
  
Hermione looked raptly at the stone, her eyes filled with wonder and interest.  
  
Snape pulled a velvet bag with a drawstring out of his shirt pocket and put a round dozen stones in it. The stones caused the bag to glow green.  
  
Hermione stood up and moved as though to set the stone down, but Snape stopped her.  
  
'Take it with you,' he said, taking her hand and closing it over the stone. 'Come on, we have to get back up to the castle,' he said softly and let go of her hand.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A.N. This was originally part of a longer chapter, but I really needed to update, so I just split it in half.  
  
Daintress: I'll take a look at your fics as soon as I have some time; I've been soooooooooo busy lately. I'm sorry that I haven't had the chance to take a look at them yet. I think I'll reveal the whole potion thing in chapter 5.  
  
Avid Fan: You make me laugh, thank you! And I do reckon he fancies her, but I also amount that he's a few pence short a pound at the moment if you know what I mean.  
  
Belle Mortis: I meant to thank you for the tip about putting the space between paragraphs before; it really does look loads cleaner this way.  
  
K-iska-Muggle-Girl-0731: Your story is pretty good, tell me if you update some more and I'll read it as soon as I get the chance.  
  
Also Special thanks to: Anarane Anwamane, Kaylariana, Artemis Moonclaw, coldqueen, avidfan, legolas's elf witch girl, raine-leonhart, Sabrina3, Nelys1, and LiL:.CaT:.AnImE.  
  
I'm sorry if I forgot anyone or if I spelled your pen name wrong. 


	4. Lucius Malfoy's House Elf

Chapter 4  
  
Lucious Malfoy's House Elf  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the other character's in this story with the exception of Star. Aren't I the lucky one.  
  
A.N. Please keep in mind that this chapter was originally part of chapter three so there aren't really any huge revelations. However, there is some important stuff, and besides I didn't have the heart to cut it out completely.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
They made it back up to the castle without incident, and with time enough to spare. Once they made it back into Snape's office both of them plopped into the nearest available chair, completely exhausted.   
  
'I'll make us some tea,' Snape said lifting up his head and then sinking back into his chair. 'In a minute or so.'  
  
'Oh, honestly professor!' Hermione exclaimed, somehow finding the energy to jump out of her chair. 'You really need to learn how to take advantage of the full attributes this castle has to offer.'  
  
Hermione walked over to the fireplace. 'Do you have any floo powder?' She asked.  
  
'It's in a jar on the desk,' Snape said, looking at her in interest.  
  
Hermione found the jar and threw floo powder into the fire. She got down on her hands and knees and, sticking her head into the fire, she said, 'The kitchen.'  
  
Snape found himself overhearing one end of a conversation.  
  
'Is Doby there?' Hermione asked. 'Can you bring tea for two down to professor Snape's office.' There was another pause and then, 'Thank you.' Hermione rose and then sat back down, smiling smugly.  
  
Snape only looked at her appraisingly over folded hands, and did not say anything.  
  
They had only waited about five minutes when Doby came in carrying a tea tray in shaking hands. He kept averting his eyes from Snape. He set the tea tray down on the table next to Hermione, gave her e feeble smile, and practically ran out of the room.  
  
Snape was staring at the doorway, perplexed. 'Was that Lucious Malfoy's house elf?' He asked, almost disgustedly.  
  
'Yes.' Hermione began to laugh at the look on Snape's face.  
  
'He's an odd little fellow, isn't he?'  
  
'You can hardly blame him. Working for Dark Wizards tends to have that effect on them. I mean, look at Kreecher. Given, he kind of went the other way on that one, but look at what mistreatment does to house elves.'  
  
  
  
Snape smiled. 'Just an observation, I'm not interested in joining S.P.E.W. or anything. I'm much more interested in the caffeine content of that tea; it's not that herbal crap is it?'  
  
  
  
Hermione sighed and handed him a cup of tea, 'No I don't think so.'  
  
'Great,' Snape gulped down the entire cup of tea, and then grimaced as it burnt his throat. 'Well that's better then.'  
  
Hermione let out a bit of strangled laughter.  
  
'What?' Snape asked, looking at Hermione as though she were about to die.'  
  
Through gasps of stifled laughter Hermione managed, 'You drink tea the same way you drink brandy.'  
  
Now Snape looked at Hermione as though he was about to make her die. 'We have work to do,' he growled, and then stomped off into his potion stores.  
  
Hermione shook her head and after a moment followed him into the storeroom. She stood in the doorway, looking at him skeptically as he dug through the shelves and drawers that were filled with potion ingredients. He shoved a handful of various ingredients into Hermione's arms with instructions to put them on the desk and wait for him.  
  
Snape came back from the stores wit a few more jars of ingredients. 'I can't find my manticore hair,' Snape said setting down the jars. 'We need it tonight and we can't do anything without it. I'll have to go to my house and get some from there. It will only take me a moment. Can you prepare some more dragon scales? We need to add them in next after the manticore hair.'  
  
'I suppose,' Hermione groaned. Grinding up dragon scales with a marble pestle is not an easy thing to do, drudgerous work at best.  
  
'Excellent,' Snape smiled. 'See you in a bit poppet.' He grabbed a pinch of floo powder, and with a cry of, 'Snape Manor,' disappeared into the fireplace.  
  
Hermione, who was not looking forward to grinding up the dragon scales, made an excuse to procrastinate about getting started by putting the floo powder away in Snape's desk. When she put the jar into the drawer she must have hit some kind of switch because the bottom of the drawer popped up to reveal a secret compartment.  
  
Hermione looked uneasily back to the fireplace and then stuck her hand into the compartment. She closed her hand around something cold and metallic, but before she could pull it and look at it she heard the flames in the fireplace roar up. 'Shit!' She slammed the compartment closed and slid the drawer closed behind her back.  
  
Snape appeared out of the flames, holding up a jar of red hairs and smiling. 'Found them!'  
  
Hermione smiled innocently, 'Great.'   
  
  
  
They went back into Snape's office and Hermione added the manticore hair to the potion while Snape easily ground up the dragon scales in mere seconds.   
  
Hermione looked at Snape incredulously, 'It would have taken me half an hour to grind those up.'  
  
'I've had quite a bit of practice. I am, after all, twice your age.' Snape smiled and handed her the scales to add to the potion.  
  
'What exactly is this potion supposed to do?' Hermione asked as she added the dragon scales.  
  
Snape frowned, 'I'm not really supposed to tell you anything.' Snape frowned again, 'I don't really see how big a difference it makes though, you'll just figure it out for yourself eventually anyway.'  
  
Hermione smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear.  
  
'You haven't figured it out already have you?' Snape asked staring at her fervently.  
  
Hermione blushed, 'Well, I have a pretty good idea; or at least I though I did until this.' Hermione set the stone that snape had told her to take with her from the cave on the desk. The stone radiated green light across the table top.   
  
Snape breathed in very slowly, picked up the stone, and held it up to his face. The stone suddenly turned bright red and then returned to green again when Snape set it back down on the desk. Snape turned away, hiding his face, which had become flushed with embarrassment.  
  
Hermione watched him skeptically, was he blushing? 'Are you going to tell me what this potion does or not?' Hermione asked as she stirred the potion.   
  
Snape handed her the sand that he'd gathered from the clearing. 'Not right now, but soon. Add in all of that.'  
  
Hermione emptied the entire glass bottle into the potion, marveling at Snape's precise measurements.  
  
After another half hour of diligent potion making, during which Hermione placed all of the stones into a layer at the bottom of the cauldron with a giant pair of tongs, Snape sighed and said they could call it a night.   
  
Hermione finished putting everything back in it's proper place and asked 'Are you going to need me again tomorrow?'  
  
'Not until Friday,' Snape said, after putting an anti-spill charm on the cauldron  
  
'Alright, good night then professor.'  
  
'I'll see you tomorrow in class Hermione,' Snape said bidding her farewell.  
  
Hermione waved and walked back up to Gryffindor tower for what she expected would be another sleepless night.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. Alright! I'm on spring break, so I'll be able to update again tomorrow. You might just find out what the potion is for, and what the thing is between Sevi and Hermione too. Then again you might not. Oh, and for anyone who's wondering where the title Benevolent Butterflies came from.... Star's name was originally going to be Butterfly, but I decided to change it to star I still liked the chapter name though so I decided to leave it the same. If anyone can come up with something I like better I'll change it.  
  
Thanks: Parody-of-an-Angel, Sarahamanda, CaptaiCrash, and Amara Tsu (your review made me smile :) Thanks a whole bunch, you know we author's feed on review like fish feed on algae.   
  
I had some problems saving, so if the format is messed up, let me know. 


	5. Regarding The Potion

Chapter 5  
  
Regarding The Potion  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: If I actually owned my characters I wouldn't be posting on FanFiction.net now would I? They need to make a disclaimer that applies to everything so that we don't have to put these up on an individual basis, it's such a pain.  
  
A.N. This chapter doesn't actually tell you all that much but,.... it does progress the storyline quite a bit.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Potion class the next day was exceedingly dull compared to the past two days; they were making a boil removing potion for madam Pompfrey. Snape kept looking at Hermione, but avoiding her glance every time she tried to make eye contact. Hermione had decided to just try to ignore his constant surveillance.  
  
Hermione was putting her things away when Snape came over to her.  
  
Snape leaned in near Hermione's ear and breathed deeply of her sweet perfume. 'Forget your backpack,' he whispered. Before walking away Snape put an advanced potions volume on her desk: pretense for any watching eyes.  
  
Hermione put her bag underneath her desk and opened the cover of the book. A piece of green paper, folded meticulously in half, lay in sharp contrast to the starkly white cover pages of the book. After making sure that no one was looking over her shoulder Hermione delicately opened the folded paper.  
  
The note read, 'Meet me in my office. I need to talk to you away from prying eyes and ears,' in silver ink.  
  
Hermione pushed her stool under her desk in order to hide her bag and went over to Harry and Ron.  
  
'Hi 'Mione,' Ron said as he hastened to get all of his things into his bag before the bell rang.  
  
'Are you coming to our opening Quiddich season party on the pitch tonight?' Harry asked as they walked into the hallway together, on the way to lunch.  
  
'I'll try to make it by, but I have homework and band practice tonight,' Hermione explained.  
  
'Band practice?' Ron raised his eyebrow.  
  
'Yeah, Dumbledore's idea, he wants to have four house bands. We're supposed to play at the school dances and things like that.'   
  
'I didn't know that you played an instrument,' Harry said.  
  
'I sing,' Hermione explained. They were nearly to the great hall so Hermione spun around and stamped her foot. 'Damn it! I left my bag back down in the potion room. I'll meet you at lunch.' She ran off down the hallway.  
  
A few minutes later Hermione walked into an empty potion room. She bent under her desk, grabbed her bag, and proceeded into Snape's office.  
  
The potion sat bubbling on top of Snape's desk, but Hermione didn't see Snape.  
  
Suddenly, he was in front of her and she was being pressed up against the wall. He pressed his lips against hers, lightly at first. Hermione dropped her bag, kissing him back. She slipped her tongue in between his lips and he abruptly stepped back.  
  
'This is wrong,' Snape said bluntly.  
  
Hermione sighed, 'You're right.' There was an uncomfortable moment of silence and then Hermione picked up her bag to leave. 'If that's all, I'll go to lunch.'  
  
Snape snapped out of his stupor. 'It's not all. I wasn't planning on doing that.' Snape broke off. 'I have a letter for you.'  
  
'Oh,' Hermione turned back and dropped her bag to the floor once more.  
  
Snape handed her a parchment envelope with the Hogwarts seal on it. 'It's from Dumbledore, regarding the potion I imagine.'  
  
Hermione opened the envelope and removed a piece of parchment covered with Dumbledore's curly writing.  
  
Snape leaned over her shoulder and read the letter aloud.  
  
'Hermione,  
  
'I'm glad to hear that you've agreed to work on the potion. You're no doubt wondering what the potion's purpose is. I regret that I cannot tell you in this letter, for fear that it will be intercepted. I'm going away to London for a couple of weeks, but I'll schedule an appointment with you when I return. We can discuss the potion then, I want to hear that song you're working on too.  
  
'In the meantime, I hope Severus isn't being an ogre, he can be a beast at times. If he gives you any trouble talk to Mcgonnagal. Whatever you do, do not cease work on the potion. The potion is vital.  
  
'My Best  
  
'Dumbledore.'  
  
Snape laughed and kissed her cheek. 'I'm not a beast am I?' He asked.  
  
Hermione pulled him closer to her. 'No. You're not a beast; you're a cruel bastard.  
  
'And don't you forget it,' Snape said. He wrapped his arms around her waist lovingly.  
  
Hermione moaned happily and went back to kissing him. 'Ouch!' Hermione pulled away from him, dug into her pocket and pulled out the cave stone which now shone vibrantly red.  
  
Snape blushed and took the stone from her. 'It's a passion stone. If you feel passionately about someone or something it will light up red. So you either love me, loathe me, or you're thinking about Ron.'  
  
Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust, 'I guess I love you then.' Hermione kissed the bridge of his nose.  
  
Snape pulled her close and kissed passionately down her neck.  
  
Hermione leaned her head against Snape's chest , but then she remembered the letter that was still in her hand and she pushed him away.  
  
Snape looked at her perplexedly.  
  
'What about the potion, professor?'  
  
Snape sighed and went back to her neck, 'We'll find someone else to do it.'  
  
Hermione sighed. 'Who?' She asked allowing Snape full range of her neck.  
  
Snape inched his hand down her thigh and mumbled the first name that popped into his head. 'Star.'  
  
That did it, Hermione pushed him away again. 'Nope, that won't do at all. You'll just have to wait until we're finished with it.' Hermione picked up her bag, 'And, I'm late for lunch. I'll see you on Friday professor.' With that she was off down the hallway.  
  
'Call me Severus!' Snape called after her. He picked up the red cave stone that had been left on the desk.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. Things have heated up a bit eh?  
  
Thanks: Anarane Anwamane, Sarahamanda, Moon Assassin 13, Melwasul, and Belle Mortis (I hate being so bloody transparent) 


	6. Snow White

Chapter 6  
  
Snow White   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: Again, I do not own any of the characters with the exception of the obvious ones.  
  
A.N. It feels really nice to have that last chapter out, it'd been floating around in my head since last September. I'm not sure if I like this chapter or not, it's slow at the beginning and it doesn't leave of quite the way I'd hoped,... but the muses decree.  
  
Here goes.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione arrived at lunch slightly disheveled and sat down between Harry and Ron.   
  
  
  
'What are you so happy about?' Ron asked with his mouth full of food.  
  
'Oh, I'm just glad that I found my bag,'Hermione said as she looked away across the table. She was remembering how his lips felt pressed against hers: soft and warm.  
  
Ron nodded, stuffing his face once more. Hermione looked around the table; the food all looked wonderful, but in light of present events Hermione wasn't feeling especially hungry.  
  
'I think I'll go back up to the common room and do some homework, since I'm not hungry.' Hermione rose from her seat and left the Great Hall, grabbing an apple off of the end of the Gryffindor table on her way out.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The day had gone by unbearably slowly, for Hermione, after she'd gone back to class when lunch hour was over.  
  
Hermione was laying on her bed, staring at the yet uneaten apple that sat on her night stand when she noticed what time it was. It was nearly seven so she grabbed her cloak and the apple and headed down to band practice.  
  
The Gryffindor house band had secured an empty classroom for practice, a considerably easy thing to do in a vast castle. Someone had secured a gold plate with the engraving, 'The Lionhearts,' to the door.  
  
Hermione walked into the room to see that someone had also dressed the walls up in scarlet and gold, and set up a platform with their instruments on it. Hermione tucked the apple into the pocket of her cloak and set it down on a chair near the door.  
  
'Sorry I'm late, I lost track of time,' Hermione apologized.  
  
She looked around at the band assembled on their little stage.   
  
Dean Thomas sat in anticipation behind his drum set.   
  
Ginny Weasley, who had been admitted into the band despite her other Quiddich obligations due to the simple fact that no one else in Gryffindor had the slightest inkling as to how to play a bass guitar and what Ginny didn't know she picked up quickly, leaned against the wall. Ginny's bass guitar was red with yellow and orange flames along the body, she looked positively devilish when she played it on account of her hair.   
  
Violet Lienbach, a second year, was chosen for keyboard. No one was really sure if Violet's name was actually Violet or if everyone just called her that on account of her purple hair, but everyone was too embarrassed to ask her what her name was after three weeks of practicing together.  
  
The position of lead guitarist was the hardest one to fill after Hermione had been located and deemed perfect for lead vocalist. Nearly Headless Nick had been put in charge of putting the Gryffindor band together, but he just couldn't seem to find someone with enough raw talent that would fit in with the rest of the band. In the end Shawn Corso had been found by a bit of a fluke. Professor Mcgonnagal, who Dumbledore had taken to calling the Gryffindor talent scout, had just purchased the instruments for all of the house bands and had them all in her classroom. Corso had gone into the room seeking help on his transfiguration homework, but when he saw that Mcgonnagal wasn't there he helped himself to the guitar on the desk instead. Mcgonnagal walked in on a guitar solo that would rival Hendrix himself. Needless to say, the position was filled.  
  
'It's okay 'Mione. We can't start yet anyway, Nick's not here. He doesn't even have an excuse, as a responsible adult he should be here on time, it's not like he has anything better to do.' Shawn said, his fingers twitching over the fingerboard of his guitar.  
  
Nick cleared his throat, having wafted in through the wall behind Shawn in the middle of his spiel. 'Just because I am no longer living, Mr. Corso, that does not mean that I do not have other engagements. Now if we can start, I've come up with some new music for the Halloween Ball. Dumbledore has informed me that we're to preform five songs, so I've compiled a folder full of music for each of you; we'll rehearse the music, and at the end of the month each of you will choose your favorite song to be performed at the ball. Sir Nicholas handed each of them a scarlet leather folder embossed with their name and, 'The Lionhearts,' in gold letters.  
  
'Do you think that we could finish up early tonight?' Ginny asked Sir Nicholas. 'The Quiddich party is tonight, and I am on the team.'  
  
Nicholas sighed, 'Very well. Well listen to the new guitar solo Corso wrote, and then you may go. Unless. Are you finished with that piece that you're working on Hermione?'  
  
Hermione pulled a thin sheet of yellow paper with odd dimensions out of her pocket, scrutinized it for a moment, and shook her head. 'Not quite, it's just a bunch of lyrical nonsense at the moment, maybe next week.'  
  
Nick nodded, 'Corso.'  
  
Without a moments hesitation Shawn began to play. His fingers were a blur over the finger board, his guitar pick a blue haze over the strings. The music that he produced was eerie and sweet and enthralling all at once. Violet had once described it bast by saying, 'He sounds like he sold his soul to the devil and is playing the music that created the heavens at a rock concert accompanied by a choir of Seraphim.'  
  
Yet, as enthralled as they all were, they wasted no time leaving the room and heading up to the Quiddich pitch the very second he'd finished. With his last note still in the air, Shawn sighed, silently packed up his guitar, and went up to his room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Everyone from Gryffindor house seemed to be out on the pitch, as well as a good number of students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Someone had either filched food from the kitchen or actually bought it in Hogsmede, because there were cakes, snacks, and bottles of butterbeer and pumpkin juice everywhere, littering tables that had been ransacked from the equipment shed.  
  
Harry and Ron rushed up to Hermione, smiling. Ron, who had a half eaten pumpkin cake in one hand and a bottle of butterbeer in the other, gave her a somewhat limited hug. 'Glad you made it,' he said through a mouthful of pumpkin cake.  
  
Hermione looked around. 'I'm not, you're going to give half the school detention for a month with this little soiree of yours. I'm not so sure I want to be included.'  
  
'Lighten up Hermione,' Harry said, handing her a butterbeer.  
  
Hermione sighed, 'What the hell.' She popped the cap of the bottle and downed half of it in one drink, wishing idly that it was some of Firenze's brandy instead.  
  
Just when Hermione was beginning to relax, the familiar voice of Severus Snape came booming across the pitch. 'What the bloody hell is going on here?' Snape strode into the midst of the party goers. 'All of you go back up to your houses at once! You couldn't possibly have had any kind of authorization for this!'   
  
All of the students fled from Snape's unchecked rage, led by the fearless Harry Potter and his faithful squire Ron.  
  
'Longbottom!' Severus grabbed the back of Neville's robes, and spun the petrified boy around to face him. 'While I doubt that you have the spoonful of brains that it undoubtedly would have taken to arrange this little fiasco, you obviously didn't have enough brains to stay in your bed either, so you can clean up this mess! Finnigan!' The mere sound of Severus' voice stopped Seamus in his tacks. 'You help him!'  
  
Severus spun around, livid, but then he spotted Hermione and his expression softened. He smirked, a gleam in his eye. 'Granger!' he yelled with nothing short of glee. 'You are a school prefect! You should have sent all of these people back up to the castle the moment you arrived, not participate in their blatant disregard of school rules! In my office immediately! You'll be looking forward to a month's worth of detentions in my room!'  
  
Hermione glared daggers at him and stomped off up towards the castle.  
  
Severus yelled at Neville some more and instructed the stragglers to help with the cleaning. He started up to the castle with a smile on his face, feeling quite pleased with himself.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
When he arrived in his office Severus found it empty and exactly the way he had left it save for a gleaming red apple that sat perched on the corner of his desk, tented underneath a piece of his own green stationary.  
  
Severus lifted the paper and turned it over to see it covered with Hermione's writing in his own silver ink.  
  
Dearest Love,  
  
  
  
I decided to go with the traditional, less explicit form of brown nosing my teacher. I daresay you think me the frigid evil queen trying to poison you with an enchanted apple, and while at times I'd be glad to be rid of you, if I'm the evil queen that makes you Snow White and I don't really go for the 'damsel in distress' types.  
  
  
  
By the way, if you expect me to call you Severus I should think you could at least manage my first name as well, Granger just sounds so condescending.  
  
As to your month worth of detentions, since I seem to be so good at blatantly disregarding school rules, I've decided to disregard them as well. I'll see you on Friday.  
  
Eat the apple and think of me, won't you?  
  
~Hermione  
  
  
  
Severus sighed, and threw the note down on his desk. Her tilted his head at the apple, and then smirked and straightened up. He grabbed the apple off of his desk and went to his room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. So there weren't any huge revelations, but that was such a fun chapter to write.  
  
Thanks:  
  
Belle Mortis: Mmmm Mocha Cake. If you're Crazy then I've gone beyond just being eccentric. I have decided to begin to call him Severus most of the time, ... or better yet, I'll treat him like a schizophrenic and call him Snape when he's being mean and Sevi if he's being sweet.  
  
Amara Tsu: You're lucky we're on the internet I haven't blushed this hard since....well.... No one has ever said that have have good grammar before, tee hee. (incidentally, it's impeccable) I put in a lot more about Hermione's band, I have my sad excuse for a plot going on here somewhere, I hope you like. I would never get Hermione pregnant either, it's not my style. Sev on the other hand.....maybe, but not in this story it's much to serious for a stunt like that.  
  
Sarahamanda: Do you realize that you've given me the same review four times. I'm not picky and I thank you, but I do like to get some feedback.  
  
erisedfororrim: Thank you, I tend to float about genre's when I read fic's, write them too I guess.  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: More to come. I honestly haven't decided what was in the compartment yet, I've some idea, but you'll have to wait to find out until I know for sure.  
  
aquaflower: Thanks, considering I almost didn't even post this story.  
  
I'll have the next chapter up within the week, maybe even tomorrow if I can get on the computer.  
  
~Ly 


	7. Love Conquers All

Chapter Seven Love Conquers All ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.  
  
A.N. Yes well, here I am again. If you were disappointed by the anti- climax of chapter six, don't worry because everything picks right up again. Severus comes out on top in more ways than one, not that this diminishes Hermione's hold on him in anyway. And we get to finally find out what's in the desk drawer. Sorry guy's, but the potion's still a mystery. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione adjusted herself in the armchair by the fire and looked at her watch. She groaned and stood up, pressing her hands against the small of her back.  
  
Friday's classes had gone by unbelievably slowly; her anxiety of the approaching potion session weighed down on her mind. Now it was time for her to make her way down to the dungeons, and she wasn't sure how she was going to handle herself. Monday was one thing, but now she'd had four days to think about it and she as not sure if an illicit relationship with one of her professors was really something that she wanted. At that she wanted. At the moment she needed to go do work on the potion and she didn't have time to really worry about what she would do when she got there or she would be late.  
  
Hermione slipped through the portrait and down the stairs into the dungeons. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
All of the candles in the potion room had gone out. Hermione hadn't brought her wand with her for some reason so she found herself at a bit of a disadvantage. She stretched her hands out in front of her, feeling for obstacles between herself and the door to Severus' office.  
  
Severus was sleeping on a green corduroy couch that he had undoubtedly conjured up for the purpose.  
  
He looked so innocent asleep. His long hair was a soft black afterthought against his pale cheek. His hair wasn't as greasy as it normally was, he must have recently taken the time to wash it. Hermione smiled, secretly hoping that she had given him the motivation to improve his personal hygiene. He would have easily looked the part of an angel, with the soft curtain of sleep wiping the sneer off of his face, but for his hooked nose. Hermione was rather fond of his nose though, she though that it added character to his face. He was wearing muggle clothes again, Hermione hoped against hope that this didn't mean another trek through the muddy forest. His black silk shirt was unbuttoned; it lay starkly black against his chest throat.  
  
Hermione was overcome with the urge to go back on her vows and whisper something obscene into his ear before snogging him on the corduroy couch. Hermione tiptoed over to him, intent on doing just that, when she remembered the mystery object that she'd located in the desk drawer on Sunday.  
  
Miraculously, Hermione found that her curiosity outweighed her lust and she seized the opportune moment. She backed up slowly towards the desk, carefully monitoring Severus' breathing pattern. She slid the drawer open as quietly as possible, behind her back so that if Severus awoke she could hide what she was doing. She damned herself for not bringing her wand, not only could she not see but a silencing spell would have been quite useful at the moment. Hermione ran her hand along the bottom of the drawer, seeking out the latch that would open the secret compartment. After a few tense moments of fumbling in the dark she resolved to tiptoeing across the room to get the candlestick.  
  
The rise and fall of Severus' chest faltered for only a fraction of a second, but it was enough to cause Hermione's heart to skip a beat. Once she was satisfied that he was not about to wake up she leant over him.  
  
His eyes were moving back and forth beneath their lids. Hermione wondered what he was dreaming about, and right on cue Severus murmured, 'Mmm apple, my precious apple.'  
  
Hermione smirked and went back to the desk, feeling very satisfied with herself. With the help of the candle, she notices a small engraving of a snake in the shape of a S in the right side of the drawer. Hermione traced the engraving with her finger and heard the compartment at the bottom of the drawer audibly snap open.  
  
She turned around and checked to make sure that Severus was still asleep. He was, murmuring inarticulately in his sleep.  
  
Hermione turned back to the drawer, breathed in slowly, and pulled out what lie within. She brought it nearer to the candle and examined it closely. It was a very old intricately designed wrought iron key. The base of the key was the width of her palm, and the key itself was the length of her forearm. She turned it over, feeling the weight of it, and saw an engraving along the length of the key; she bought it up to the candle, trying to make the words out. The engraving was in Latin, 'Amor Vicint Omnia.' Hermione committed it to memory and made a mental note to look up the translation in the library later.  
  
Hermione slipped the key back into its compartment and snapped it shut, wondering what it was for and why it needed to be hidden. She slid the drawer closed once more and went over to Severus.  
  
She watched him, sleeping soundly. Her eyes roamed down his muscled chest and paused at his navel. She was once more was overcome with the desire to make him her own. She breathed in the sweet aroma of his cologne and shivered.  
  
Carefully, so as not to wake him up, she got onto the couch. She straddled his chest with her thighs and leaned over him, placing her hands on either side of his head against the arm of the corduroy couch. Hermione smirked and ran her tongue down his forehead, kissed his hooked nose; she moved her lip to his and lingered there. His lips to his and lingered there. His lips were soft, and even before his eyes fluttered open he had already begun to kiss her in return.  
  
He squinted up at her, trying to make her out in the dark. His mind was groggy, and for some reason he was having problems rationalizing Hermione's presence. He felt as though he were still dreaming.  
  
'What are you doing?' he asked, his voice thick with sleep.  
  
Hermione grinned down at him. 'Waking Sleeping Beauty from her eternal slumber of course,' Hermione replied craftily.  
  
Severus sat up abruptly, causing Hermione to be pushed back ending up sitting in his lap facing him.  
  
'Don't get cheeky with me Hermione.'  
  
Hermione frowned, 'I wasn't being cheeky.'  
  
Severus raised his eyebrow, 'No?'  
  
'No,' Hermione replied softly. She slipped her hands underneath his shirt and wrapped her arms around him.  
  
Severus smiled and wrapped his arms around her as well. 'Hermione, you are by far the most impossible woman that I have ever met.'  
  
Hermione closed her eyes and gave a contented sigh. 'Then I'm perfect for you Severus, because you have to be the most impossible person in the whole world.'  
  
'I don't doubt that you're right,' he said, tucking her hair behind her ear.  
  
'What are we doing tonight?' Hermione asked, tracing his Adam's apple with her finger in a fascinated sort of way. 'On the potion,' she added dryly, after seeing the mischievous grin on Severus' face.  
  
Severus sighed, 'Not too much, we just have to add in moon lilies, beetle eyes, and more dragon scales tonight.'  
  
Hermione moaned, 'Fine, but you're grinding up the dragon scales again, and I'm going to order us down some tea from the kitchens.'  
  
'Alright,' Severus said, marveling at how easy it was to please her some times.  
  
Hermione got up off his lap and used the floo powder on his desk to ask Dobby to bring them down another tea tray while Severus gathered up their ingredients and quickly ground the dragon scales into powder.  
  
Hermione kept catching herself glancing at Severus' bare chest when she was supposed to be measuring out beetle eyes. 'Severus, would you please button your shirt, I'm finding it hard to concentrate.'  
  
Severus smirked, ready to make it a whole hell of a lot harder to concentrate. He maneuvered around the table and lifted her of her feet in a soft embrace, and kissed her deeply.  
  
Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Hermione and Severus abruptly let go of each other and spun around to face Dobby the house elf.  
  
'Where do you want the tea miss?' Dobby asked, glaring at Severus.  
  
Hermione blushed deeply scarlet, 'Oh, here on the desk I suppose.'  
  
Dobby did as he was bid, glared and Severus one more time, and left.  
  
'Did you see the look he was giving me?' Severus asked as soon as Dobby was gone.  
  
'Daggers,' Hermione said and shrugged. 'But really, sexual relations with one of your underage students, have you no morals.' ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Once they were finished with the potion they had another little make- out session on the couch.  
  
'Severus, can I stay here?' Hermione asked once they had stopped kissing and she lay on his chest.  
  
'What do you mean?' Severus asked, propping his hand behind his head.  
  
'I'm too tired to go back up to Gryffindor Tower,' she said with a yawn.  
  
Severus smiled, 'Oh really.'  
  
'Yes,' she said sleepily.  
  
'You can stay here if you want, but I'm going home.'  
  
'Hunh?' Hermione asked, sitting up.  
  
'I don't spend the night here,' Severus explained, 'I commute in the morning.' He gently slid out from under her and went over to the fireplace, ready to floo himself over to Snape Manor.  
  
Hermione moaned, 'Don't leave me.'  
  
Severus sighed, in a resolved sort of way and lifted her off the couch. He threw the floo powder into the fire, walked into it with her in his arms, and called out, 'Snape manor.  
  
Hermione closed her eyes shut, so no soot would get in them and clutched tight to Severus as they whirled around in the fire and appeared in front of Severus' living room. She tried to open up her eyes again, but she was just too tired. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N: Thanks 


	8. Would You Just Tell Me Already

Chapter Eight  
  
Would You Just Tell Me Already  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. Okay, I rushed the last chapter, but this one is really well thought out.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione awoke to find Severus lying in bed next to her. After a quick double take everything came back to her and she smiled contentedly. She looked at him lovingly, glad to be exactly where she was.   
  
Severus moaned and turned on his side, facing her with his eyes still closed. 'Go back to sleep Hermione, it's Saturday.'   
  
Hermione smiled, it was Saturday. She didn't have any classes all day, she could stay here with Severus and she didn't need to worry at all. Except she did have that test… 'Sev, darling?'  
  
Severus grumbled inarticulately.  
  
'Do you have a library?'  
  
Severus groaned. 'Figures, I get her in my bed and she wants to know whether or not I have a library.'  
  
'Severus Snape,' Hermione reprimanded. 'I've done nothing but sleep in your bed, and you're not to speak to me like that. Also, the reason I wanted to know if you had a library is because I need to study for the test that you are giving on Monday. If you don't have a library I'll have to go back to school and tell professor McGonagal all about how you are inattentive and I don't want to work with you anymore. My mother always told me how I should never date my co-workers.'  
  
'Did she mention your professors?' Severus asked dryly.  
  
'No,' Hermione said honestly. 'I doubt she would approve though. Whatever are we going to do about Christmas?'  
  
'Stay at school,' Severus offered, turning over on his stomach and burying his face in his pillow. 'We can drink eggnog with Firenze, he throws the best New Year's Party every year, and shag on my couch.'  
  
'Library,' Hermione said flatly.  
  
'The last door on the left side of the hall,' Severus mumbled into his pillow. 'Now go away so I can sleep, you're very distracting.'  
  
Hermione sighed and skipped out into the hallway, almost tripping over a house elf that was standing there. 'Oh, I'm sorry,' Hermione said and jumped back. 'Hello.'  
  
'Allo,' the house elf said brightly. 'Would the young miss like anything for breakfast?'  
  
'Oh,' Hermione said surprised. 'Yes please, some bacon and a glass of grapefruit juice if it's handy.'  
  
'Of course miss.'  
  
Hermione smiled at the little fellow, he was wearing a spotlessly clean pillowcase with a snake in the shape of an S embroidered across the chest in silver.   
  
'Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Hermione Granger.' She curtsied to the little house elf.  
  
The house elf blushed. 'I am Dennis,' he said bowing low.  
  
'It's a pleasure to meet you Dennis,' Hermione said politely. 'Could you show me were the library is by any chance, I'll get lost otherwise. This house is so huge.'  
  
Dennis started off down the hallway and Hermione followed him.  
  
'The house has been in the Snape family for time out of mind, centuries and centuries. There was a lot of controversy surrounding how the house came into the Snape family, but I don't rightly know why. My grandfather probably knows, but he's not been 'all there' for a while now.' Dennis chatted away like a tour guide as he led Hermione to the library. 'Don't know what's going to be happening to the house now, the master doesn't have any children to give it to. One of the cousins will probably take it. Dark wizards, the cousins.' Dennis spoke the last bit in a whisper, as if he expected 'the cousins' to appear out of thin air. Hermione had to remind herself that this was, of course, entirely possible.  
  
'Thank you,' Hermione said as she opened the huge double oak doors to the library.  
  
Dennis bowed again. 'I'll send my daughter up with your breakfast Miss Hermione.'  
  
Hermione nodded and went into the library. Severus' library was as big as the Hogwarts library; bigger even, if that was possible. However, while the Hogwarts library was filled with books on all sorts of subjects, Severus' was comprised mainly of very old books full of potions and dark wizardry. There was also a small section of very new books of muggle poetry, which included six or seven volumes of Robert Browning.  
  
Hermione stalked through the library in search of a Latin-English dictionary. She'd almost given up when she spotted a battered looking copy lying on top of one of the lower bookshelves.   
  
She opened the book and quickly found the words she was looking for, as they'd been magically highlighted to be printed in red ink. Amor meant Love, Vicint meant overcome, and Omnia meant in total.   
  
'Love overcome in total?' Hermione said skeptically and then slapped herself in the forehead. 'Honestly Hermione, Neville's beginning to rub off on you,' she told herself flatly. 'This is Latin, it's different than looking up American slang in the bloody dictionary. It's Love Overcomes All.'  
  
Hermione was in the process of smoothing out a crease in the front cover of the book when she noticed Severus' curly writing on the title page. She read it aloud, 'Love Conquers All.' She threw the book back down on the counter and muttered, 'Damn Slytherins,' under her breath as she stalked off   
  
Hermione easily found a reliable looking book on healing potions called The Origins of Healing and Rejuvenating potions and their composition and application. Hermione settled herself into a leather armchair and began to read.  
  
She'd hardly gotten through the first chapter when she was interrupted by the sound of one of the huge oak doors being opened. She looked up to see a very small female house elf wearing the same green pillow case as Dennis and carrying a silver tray. The house elf walked into the library very silently and set the tray down on the table in front of Hermione.  
  
Hermione quickly abandoned her book in favor of the sweet smell of bacon that was assailing her nose. 'Thank you,' Hermione said politely.  
  
The elf bowed, 'Cindy at your service.' she said brightly.   
  
Cindy couldn't have been very old, eight or nine Hermione guessed, although she didn't know what rate house elves matured at. 'Are you Dennis' daughter?' Hermione asked.  
  
'Yep,' Cindy said smiling happily.  
  
'Does your whole family work here?' Hermione asked before taking a bit of the bacon.  
  
'Yep,' Cindy said. 'Me mum and me dad, and me.'  
  
Hermione wondered how house elves courted one another when they were separated into different families, but she thought it would be rude to ask.  
  
Cindy was smiling brightly, but then her eyes got big and she ran to the door cursing herself for leaving the oven on.  
  
Hermione shook her head and went back to her book casually picking at the bacon and sipping her grapefruit juice. She was only a couple pages in though, when she was once more interrupted by the door.   
  
Severus came into the room very nonchalantly, his hair was wet and he wore a very revealing black silk bathrobe that was tied loosely at the waste so that it didn't cover his chest. Hermione surmounted that this had been done on purpose, and she wasn't entirely wrong on that point. He stopped to grab a piece of bacon and then sat down in the armchair next to hers, sitting sideways and pulling his feet up underneath him.   
  
'I got a letter from Dumbledore this morning,' he said. 'He's going to be back on Monday morning, so I'm supposed to excuse you from class so that you can meet with him about the potion.' Severus smirked, 'He also said that I'm to treat you properly and not cause any trouble. I wonder what he would say if he knew that you were here quite at home sitting in my chair, eating my bacon and reading my book. Wearing my shirt no less.'  
  
Hermione looked down, she was wearing his shirt, she hadn't noticed before. It was a black silk shirt, only slightly different than the one he'd been wearing last night. She didn't remember changing into his shirt, but since she was still wearing her pants she figured that she was okay.  
  
  
  
Hermione looked at Severus in a very nonplused sort of way and went back to her book.  
  
Severus smirked and leaned over her, his knees on his chair and his elbows resting on the arm of hers. 'You study too much darling.' He said sweetly. 'Besides, even if you don't get fifty out of fifty on my test you can still make up for it in extra credit.' Severus leaned forward and wriggled his eyebrows up and down.   
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. 'If you think you're going to get anywhere with a pick-up line like that I think you'd better go back to bed.'  
  
'But that's precisely what I had in mind my sweet.'  
  
Hermione smiled condescendingly and said 'I have all the credit I need thanks,' in a very sarcastic tone. 'But maybe you should give yourself some extra credit if you need the gratification.' She went back to her book.  
  
Severus sighed and sank back into his own chair muttering, 'Welcome back ice queen,' under his breath.  
  
'I'm the one who's supposed to have raging hormones not you,' Hermione said, not looking up from her book. 'Keep it in your pants for the next two months and we'll see. We will be done by the potion by that time and we won't have to worry about it. It shouldn't be that hard, it's not like you've been getting any lately.'  
  
Severus scowled, 'What would you know about it?'  
  
Hermione looked back to him and raised an eyebrow.  
  
Severus huffed, defeated. Damn women. 'Fine, but I get to save your month of detention for November.'  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and stood up.   
  
'Where are you going?'  
  
'Back to school,' she said, kissing him on the cheek. 'It's nearly noon already, I have enough to explain as it is.' With this she left the library, with Severus muttering to himself.  
  
'Damn bloody insufferable woman. It just figures. I don't know how I manage to get myself into these things. And she stole my book too.'  
  
To top it all off, right at that moment, the mark on Severus' forearm began to throb.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. Mwahahahaha another cliff hanger.  
  
Thanks:  
  
Amara Tsu: You're the best, has anyone ever told you that.dances around chanting, 'pure genius pure genius tra-la-la-la-la-la!' Seriously though, I giggle madly like a little school girl whenever I read one of your reviews. It also makes me get my fuzzy pink ass into gear and write another chapter, which is always good. I'm glad you liked Seamus on drums though, I had the hardest time picking out a drummer. Sorry about any of the mistakes in chapter Seven, normally I write a chapter out in my note book and then edit it while I'm typing but I wanted to get the chapter up before the week was over and I was typing it during my lunch hour in the bloody schools computer lab. Now I have to go back and copy chapter seven into my notebook otherwise it won't make any sense for my friend Sam who likes to read that version instead for some reason. I hate it when I establish deadlines for myself. I'm glad you think I can write good sarcastic remarks, I've never really been very good at coming up with them off the top of my head......It's always five minutes later after I've left. melts into a puddle on the floor I am not worthy.  
  
Anarane Anwamane: TeeHee  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: Eww, Dobby and Hermione, gross. That cliff hanger is just for you.  
  
Sarahamanda: Yup, thanks  
  
Aindel S. Druida: Thanks, but I thought you said Severus was OOC. I personally think that he's a deeper character than everyone gives him credit for.  
  
Dragon and Vampires: Hermione isn't really an ice queen, she just likes to give Sevvi a hard time.  
  
Fireprincess804: Thanks, I always spell Lucius wrong. Lucius and Corduroy, if it wasn't for spell check I'd never spell corduroy correctly. Course, spell check doesn't usually work for names.   
  
aquaflower: Thank you. 


	9. Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fond

Chapter Nine Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fond ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Disclaimer: Need I say more?  
  
A.N. Oh, you all know you love the cliff hangers. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Peter Pettigrew wove his way through the group of death eaters crowded in the inner hall of the riddle house and came to stand by Severus, who was having a conversation with Lucius Malfoy.  
  
'The dark lord would speak with you,' Pettigrew said in a hushed voice and slithered off.  
  
Severus had always had a very profound dislike for Peter Pettigrew, but it had grown into down right hatred over the past two years. As much as he'd hated all of them, Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius of course he now hated Peter worse than all of them put together. The fact of the matter was that Peter had betrayed Lily and James, all of them. He would never have actually wanted any of them dead, although he'd come close a few times. But, a man picks his enemies very carefully and Severus had been fairly happy with his rivalry with James when Peter had ended it. Severus had once heard that your arch nemesis is always the only person you can find who is more like you than you are. Severus had always liked that, and nestled deep down in his heart bosom companion to his undying hatred was a profound respect for James. Yet, thanks to Pettigrew, Severus no longer had his rival.  
  
Unexpectedly, a mere three years ago he'd been presented with the next best thing: Sirius Black. Severus had developed a nice little rivalry with James' son Harry, but it just wasn't the same. He never considered Harry his equal, and while the boy looked like James he wasn't the same person. Severus found it hard to look the boy in the eyes and still hate him, Lily's eyes shone as the windows to Harry's soul. Severus had always been fond of Lily, even if she was a bossy muggle-born goody-goody know-it- all from Gryffindor; she'd saved him from some of James and Sirius' more embarrassing pranks. He had been very disappointed when Lily and James started dating and he had been forced to despise her just when he felt the beginning of a developing crush for the girl. Severus wondered if this was part of the reason he felt so strongly about Hermione, she did bear a striking resemblance to Lily. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to loose her to another Potter; she was half his age after all. However, Severus' rivalry with Black had been short lived as well, this had mostly been Harry's fault but the boy couldn't really be blamed. Sirius was thickheaded, one of the things that Severus so fondly hated about him. With his new circumstances Severus had been in the position to push Sirius' buttons in just the right order, often using Harry to his advantage. The open hostility had, at times, been a kind of fond friendship.  
  
His hatred of Peter was not the same, Severus in no way saw Peter as his equal. Pettigrew was a rat that needed to be exterminated; he was the lowest form of life imaginable. James had always been his nemesis, his equal, from the first time he'd met the boy. They had been such similar creatures, too similar perhaps. Severus wondered if the relationship between Voldemort and Dumbledore was really so much different than his relationship with James. It had to be though, didn't it? Voldemort was an evil man; yet the way Dumbledore called him Tom, almost fondly, made Severus wonder.  
  
Severus took a deep breath, bracing himself, and entered Voldemort's office.  
  
'You're trying to destroy me Severus Snape,' the dark lord said flatly with no preface.  
  
Severus' heart stopped, 'My lord?'  
  
Voldemort sneered. 'We've kidnapped a woman from his inner circle. Peter's used a truth serum on the woman, and it would seem that that Dumbledore has someone working on a degeneration potion. As my agent within Hogwarts I would have expected you to have discovered this and informed me of it quite long time ago. I don't know how long they've been working on the potion or how far they've progressed, but you had better hope that it's not far. Or else, I fear, the circumstances for yourself will be most grave indeed. You are going to have to find out when and how they intend to use the potion, I'd ask you to destroy it but I think that would be asking too much of you and we can't risk failure. You should start work on the counter potion immediately, since making potions seems to be the only thing that you're good at. I want a complete report on Monday if that's not too much to expect from you. Now leave!'  
  
Severus left, he had found out the hard way that it was better to just let Voldemort do the talking and let the dark lord think that he was feeble. That way, if it was necessary to make a critical mistake to protect the order Voldemort would just think that it was because he was incapable rather then suspecting sabotage.  
  
There was still a fair amount of people gathered around the hall, but Severus didn't bother with keeping up appearances and just apparated back to Snape manor.  
  
Severus went back to bed. This wasn't good at all, and Dumbledore wasn't going to be back until Monday. Severus desperately wanted to speak with him. He wished Hermione were there, she always seemed to know what to do. At the very least, she would succeed in distracting him. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione flooed herself back into Severus' office and started up towards Gryffindor tower, wondering whether or not she could get up to her room without anyone noticing that she was wearing Severus' shirt.  
  
She hadn't gotten very far however, when she met Harry and Ron on the stairs.  
  
'Where've you been?' Harry asked.  
  
'Talking to the house elves,' Hermione said the first thing that came to her mind. She wasn't entirely lying either, she had been talking to house elves that morning.  
  
'We're headed down there right now,' Ron explained.  
  
Harry laughed, 'Yeah, Ron's hungry. What else is new?'  
  
'The kitchens,' Hermione said, remembering the look on Dobby's face the night before. 'I forgot my bag; I'll bring some food up to the common room for you. Meet me there!' Hermione yelled this all very abruptly and ran up the hallway towards the kitchens.  
  
'She sure does forget her bag an awful lot,' Ron observed.  
  
'I imagine that she has a lot on her mind,' Harry said. If Ron hadn't noticed that she was wearing someone else's shirt he certainly wasn't about to point it out. It really wasn't any of his business, and he was sure Ron and Hermione would end up fighting over it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione awoke Monday morning with a flock of butterflies fluttering about inside her stomach. She decided to go straight to Dumbledore's office and not bother going to potions at all. She wanted to see Severus, but she wouldn't be able to really talk to him with the class there, she'd have to appear to hate him.  
  
Much to Hermione's surprise she met Severus at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. He smiled at her, but didn't say anything except the password, which happened to be, 'Toot sweet.'  
  
It would seem that Dumbledore had run out of real candies to use as passwords and had proceeded on to fictional ones. It would be wonka scrumdidlyumtious or slugworth sizzler next.  
  
Hermione followed Severus down the spiral staircase and into Dumbledore's office where, upon entering, her vision was abruptly blurred by a frenzy of red feathers as Fawks landed on Severus' shoulder.  
  
'Hello then,' Severus said softly scratching the bird's neck. Hermione had only ever seen Fawks except such attention from anyone save Harry and Dumbledore, let alone seek it out.  
  
Dumbledore stepped into the room from the adjoining one, and sat down behind his desk. 'Oh, Severus, you're here as well; I'm happy.'  
  
'I'm not,' Severus sighed, 'It's on other business I'm afraid.'  
  
'Really?' Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows.  
  
Severus frowned, 'No I guess not, well kind of. The Dark Lord knows about the potion.'  
  
Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows deeper still.  
  
Severus continued, 'He wants me to start making the counter potion.'  
  
Dumbledore let out a sigh of relief, 'That's not so bad then, we can use it to our advantage.'  
  
Hermione was feeling more and more confused, and Severus must have noticed this because he said, 'I think it's about time that we let Hermione know exactly what we're dealing with.'  
  
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and gave Severus a look of surprise, 'Indeed, you're right.  
  
'Hermione, you and Severus have spent the past few weeks working on a degeneration potion.' When Hermione only looked confused he continued. 'What a degeneration potion does is make a magical person into a non- magical one. Can you imagine what this would mean for someone like Voldemort? It would destroy him.'  
  
Hermione nodded slowly, and then frowned. 'But the potion isn't that difficult to make, couldn't you have used it a long time ago when he was first coming into power.'  
  
Dumbledore nodded, 'It is a fairly simple potion to make, the difficult part is finding the ingredients to make it and making sure that it doesn't effect more people than you want it to. Finding the recipe is no easy task either. Severus was fortunate enough to stumble upon it in one of the ledgers in his library.'  
  
'It's like an atomic bomb then,' Hermione observed, 'But beetle eyes and dragon scales aren't really controlled substances.'  
  
Severus now turned to her, and pulled the glowing cave stone out of his pocket. 'I think you left this in my office,' he handed it to her.  
  
Hermione smiled at it as it glowed red once it had transferred into her hand and put it into her pocket. But then she frowned, 'But is it safe for me to be carrying this around in my pocket?'  
  
'It's not going to hurt you any,' Dumbledore answered. 'But I think you know enough to go on Hermione, Severus can answer your questions later. If you'll excuse us Severus and I need to talk privately.'  
  
Hermione nodded, and left Dumbledore's office in favor of the cold recesses of the dungeon.  
  
The moment she had gone Dumbledore turned to Severus. 'What do you think you're playing at you foolish man?' ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. Yup, that's it. Kind of liking this slight cliffhanger thing.  
  
Belle Mortis: Uhh, gasps how could you. Well, I, I, I, I'm going to..sticks tongue out at Belle Mortis So there!  
  
Amara Tsu: rises from the melted puddly mess on the floor Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah! Well, now that I've gotten that out of my system. Did I ever tell you that you're my favorite person in the whole world, Amara. I'd resolved to no longer establish deadlines for myself, that is until this morning when I resolved to finish this chapter today. I have told Sarahamanda to write real reviews, but she doesn't seem to listen.... At least she does review. And, if your reviews aren't real reviews I don't care because they're the best ones I get. I like pineapples. But... I have to go, I'm running out of time.  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: Another cliffhanger for you, I like hormonal Snape, he's like surf party Ken.  
  
Kaori 7395: I still don't think Snape's OOC.  
  
I'll finish these up next time, cause I don't have any. 


	10. Riddle Me This

Chapter Ten  
  
Riddle Me This  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling has the Monopoly on Harry Potter.  
  
A.N. Seems like everyone found the last chapter confusing or not thorough enough, so I'll try to clear things up.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione went straight down to the dungeons, not bothering to go back up to Gryffindor Tower for her bag since they had that big test.   
  
Professor Flitwick was subbing in for Severus, and he looked rather ridiculous behind Severus' desk without his usual stack of books. Someone really needed to get that man some proper office furniture. He handed Hermione her test and she sat down at a table by herself.   
  
Severus rushed into the room just as the bell rang, looking rather disgruntled. Hermione wondered what was up.   
  
Since she had arrived late to class Hermione hadn't yet finished checking her test over for the third time, so she didn't have to make up a story about forgetting her bag. Not that she would have needed to, Harry and Ron were chatting madly away about quiddich and the didn't seem to notice her absence. They probably wouldn't have noticed if the whole school came crashing down at their feet either though.   
  
Hermione finished checking over her test and set it down on Severus' desk.   
  
'What's wrong Sev?' she asked studying his face.  
  
'Nothing,' Severus growled.  
  
Hermione wasn't about to be swayed. 'Nothing, Nothing tra-la-la.' She said in a deep mocking voice.  
  
'Aren't you supposed to be at lunch?' Severus asked, feinting annoyance.  
  
Hermione shook her head, 'Nope. Professor Dumbledore said that I could ask you some questions and that you have to answer them.'  
  
'You didn't hear what Dumbledore said after you left,' Severus mumbled under his breath.  
  
'What did you say?' Hermione asked.  
  
'Nothing,' Severus said with a sigh.  
  
Hermione shook her head again, 'Nope, you're not getting away that easy, you have to answer remember.'  
  
'I said you should be more worried about raisin theft.' Severus said plainly.  
  
'And why is that?' Hermione asked sarcastically.  
  
'Because I've grown very fond of raisins, and if you don't go to lunch right away they'll all be gone before you get there. Millions of my tiny bruessel sprout minions are pilfering them away as we speak.'  
  
'I don't like raisins anyway, their just humiliated grapes really.'  
  
'Not a big supporter of the raisin council?' Severus asked.  
  
Hermione grinned, 'You could say that, but I'm the one that's supposed to be asking you the questions remember?'  
  
Severus sighed, 'You can ask me three questions and then you have to go to lunch.'  
  
Hermione frowned in concentration, 'All right then. How do we get Voldemort to take the potion if he know we're making it?'  
  
Severus smiled, 'But he doesn't know that we're making it, he knows that it's being made but that's different. Actually, since he's having me make the counter potion, Dumbledore's decided that I'm going to give him the real potion instead of the counter potion. If we're lucky he'll be careless and not bother to try it on anyone else first, or he'll try it on Pettigrew and not notice any difference. If we're unlucky...' Severus broke off. 'Question number two?'  
  
'What were you upset about?' Hermione asked.  
  
'I met Minerva in the hallway and she was gloating about last weeks quiddich game. She took care to mention that I owe her twenty three galleons.' This was a lie, he'd seen Minerva the day before in The Three Broomsticks. But the best lies are always eighty percent truth, something he'd learned from his father. 'Last question.'  
  
Hermione wanted to ask him about the key but she didn't want him to know that she'd been snooping. 'What kind of underwear are you wearing,' she asked, leaning over his desk and licking her lips.   
  
Severus turned bright red, 'Lunch! Now!  
  
Hermione stood back up and shook her head, 'Welcome back Mr. Crabby Pants.'  
  
'See you tonight Ice Queen,' Severus said as she left the room.  
  
'They have Snow White on them don't they?' Hermione yelled over her shoulder as she left the room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Eleven hours later Hermione was back in the dungeon waiting for Severus. He came in out of breath.  
  
'Evening calisthenics?' Hermione asked archly.  
  
'I've heard quit enough from you,' he said grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into the hallway.  
  
Before Hermione knew it they were running down the hallway at breakneck speed and she had no idea why.  
  
'Where are we going?' Hermione asked as Severus pulled her out the front door and onto the grounds.  
  
'Forest,' Severus panted as they ran to the edge of the forbidden forest.  
  
'What's going on?' Hermione asked forcefully.  
  
'Shhh,' Severus hissed and pulled her behind a large tree, just out of sight of the lawn.  
  
'Sevvviiiiii!'a screech emanated from the other side of the lake, Star was galloping towards them.  
  
Severus gestured for Hermione to follow him, and he led her as quietly as possible through the woods at a run.   
  
Within five minutes they arrived at the little circle of stones where they'd had a fire when they were drinking with Firenze.   
  
Star came galloping up a moment behind them.  
  
'Sevi, why are you running away from me?' She whined before spotting Hermione. 'It's her isn't it?'  
  
Severus quivered, 'Firenze! I'm about to kill your bloody sister!' He yelled, and then grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and kissed her passionately before turning back to Star. 'Yes it is her, but I wouldn't even want to be around you for company if we were the last two beings on the planet. I'd rather go insane talking to a bloody volleyball!'  
  
Firenze trotted up and tapped Severus on the shoulder, 'Need any help mate?'  
  
'Just keep her away from me!' He yelled and stormed off through the forest towards he river.  
  
Hermione gave Firenze a helpless look and chased after Severus.  
  
Star started after them, but Firenze grabbed her by the shoulders. 'I'm not about to go chasing after you.' he said dully.  
  
'But, Firenze," she wined.   
  
'Why don't you go play with Hagrid's little brother,' he said coldly, 'You two would make a cute couple.'   
  
Star's mouth dropped.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione caught up with Severus at the river before the cave, which he'd managed to find without the stones in his anger.  
  
He didn't seem to be bothered by the freezing early October water, because he plunged into the river and waded over to the other side, without so much as a flinch or a moments pause.   
  
Hermione jumped in after his, not feeling as though she had a choice in the matter. She felt that she'd follow him anywhere at the moment.  
  
Hermione finally caught up to him in the cave, where he sat in one corner with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head down. Hermione went over to him and sat down quietly next to him, shivering.  
  
'Is it your time of the month or something?' she asked through chattering teeth.  
  
Severus looked up to her, about to make a snide remark, but then he saw the look of concern on her face and noticed how cold she must be. His face softened and he pulled her close in an embrace. 'You're so stupid Hermione. October is no time to go swimming, you're going to catch your death.'  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. Short, but no cliffhanger. I was suffering from a little bit of writers block, but I think I know what direction I'm going in now. So you can look forward to some more plot twists in the future.  
  
Thanks:   
  
Aindel S. Druida: Don't get so huffy, Tee Hee. No cliffhanger this time, happy?  
  
Anarane Anwamane: Thanks  
  
bunniecutie: I like weird.  
  
Bastet-the-cat-goddess: thank ya kindly  
  
Belle Mortis: And Oppenheimer is the father of the atom bomb, you can't forget that. Got it wrong on Mr. Johnson's stupid world challenges test. Grrr. Damn to the depths whatever man that though up history tests.....it was probably the Greeks this time. Damned Greek Geeks, we have them to thank for geometry, but at least their not obsessed with raisins. I suppose it would help if I studied though.  
  
Casiana Joy: Thank you.  
  
Adnarel: Yay cookie! You're probably right about the relationship thing moving too fast, but I didn't want people to loose interest while I spent twenty chapters about how Hermione and Severus grow to tolerate, like, and love each other over a steaming cauldron. Though that would have been nice. 


	11. Science Fiction Double Feature

Chapter Eleven  
  
Science Fiction Double Feature  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. I apologize for my last two chapters, they were complete rubbish. I'm not going to rewrite them because I'll get writers block and I doubt anyone will read them anyway. I promise to do better though. I'm never going to sacrifice quality in order to make my own foolish deadlines ever again.  
  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling = Harry Potter Monopoly  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast feeling tired with the beginning symptoms of the flu. A sheer dread of Madam Pompfrey's sterile smelling infirmary kept her in misery. She sat down between Ron and Ginny at the Gryffindor table and laid her head in her arms.  
  
'Are you okay 'Mione,' Ron asked concerned.  
  
'Fine,' Hermione sniffled. 'I'm getting a cold is all.'  
  
Ginny rubbed her back, 'At least we don't have band practice tonight, so you don't have to sing.'  
  
Hermione looked up with confusion plain on her face  
  
  
  
'It's been canceled since half the band can't make it.' Ginny explained. 'I have Quiddich practice, and you and Dean have that special potion class.'  
  
Hermione frowned, 'What special potion class?'  
  
Ron turned away from his food for a moment with the answer, 'I forgot to tell you. Flitwick told us while you were gone, we have a special class on midnight potions tonight at well... midnight.'  
  
Hermione buried her head in her arms again and groaned.   
  
'Yeah, I know, sucks.' Ron said and went back to his porridge.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
Hermione walked out onto the grounds at a quarter to eleven the cold wind chilled her through her cloak and she wished that she had worn her gloves and scarf.   
  
All of the sixth year students had voluntarily segregated themselves into houses. All of the Gryffindors were huddled together for warmth, so Hermione went to stand by them; wondering what to expect from the night.  
  
Severus strode out onto the grounds dressed in his muggle clothes. Hermione groaned, dreading another trip into The Forbidden Forest.  
  
Severus did not lead them into the forest however, but rather into the middle of the quiddich pitch. Cauldrons had been set up on the same tables that had recently held food for the start of the quiddich season party.  
  
'The moon is full,' Severus said gesturing to the sky.  
  
As if at his bidding, the clouds paring to reveal the glistening orb of the moon.  
  
'There are three potions that can only be brewed at midnight on the evening of the full moon. They are called the lunus potions. The lunus potions are all aptly named after the Greek goddesses of fate: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. They help to give insight to the future and as such, in my opinion, the should be covered in Divination rather than in my subject. But since it's been put into my curriculum we'll be covering them over the next three months.' Severus sounded about as happy to be forced outside in the middle of the night as everyone else. 'The instructions and ingredients are on this table here. You need to add the last ingredient in exactly at midnight so you had best get started right away.'  
  
Hermione started to walk over to the table, but Severus put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. 'Miss Granger, I need to talk to you about your test grade. If you'll come with me please.'  
  
Hermione followed Severus away from the class towards The Forbidden Forest.   
  
Once they were behind Hagrid's hut and well out of earshot Hermione playfully punched Severus in the arm. 'I thought I told you to call me Hermione, Professor Snape,' Hermione reprimanded.   
  
'And I thought that I told you to call me Severus, Miss Granger' Severus parried and started back towards The Forbidden Forest.  
  
'Where are we going?' Hermione said, running to keep up.  
  
'Potion ingredients,' Severus said offhandedly.   
  
Hermione sighed, 'I hate The Forbidden Forest. Why can't you economize and get all the potion ingredients that we need in one trip so that we don't have to go in there more than once a month?' Hermione whined.  
  
'By potion ingredients I meant brandy,' Snape replied cooly. 'I need a stiff drink.'  
  
'Oh,' Hermione said sarcastically. 'Reducing your drinking bill by mooching brandy off of Firenze is a much more worthy cause.'  
  
'Course it is,' Severus responded, undaunted.   
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Once they were halfway through the forest Hermione broke the silence. 'You know Neville has probably blown up half of the quiddich pitch without me there to help him.'  
  
Severus however, was grumbling to himself about unfair school curriculum and didn't seem to hear her.  
  
'Yes well, I'm sure that if I explain to Dumbledore that I need to go drinking with you he'll understand. I mean, it's not like you need to be teaching a class or anything. And I don't really think anyone will care if the quiddich game tomorrow gets called off because half of the field is missing.'  
  
Severus seemed to have heard this, because he spun around to tell Hermione something. He'd hadn't even opened his mouth yet when he was cut off by a loud noise coming from the thicket.   
  
Severus' eyes shot up to the moon and he pushed Hermione down on the ground, drew his wand, and stood over her.   
  
A great grey wolf came barreling towards them with it's teeth barred. Severus only hesitated a fraction of a second before a bolt of green light shot out of his wand.   
  
The wolf fell to the ground dead.   
  
Hermione remained on the ground shivering from shock. Severus gave her a concerned look and walked over to the dead wolf.   
  
The wolf had begun to appear fuzzy around the edges and change shape. Hermione suddenly understood, and rushed over to the werewolf.   
  
The grey wolf slowly transformed back into human form. The form of a very small girl. Hermione choked down tears as she knelt over the little girl. She couldn't have been more than six or seven years old. She lay naked on the forest floor. Her brown eyes stared blankly up at the sky, reflecting the moon that had been her demise. Her soft brown hair pooled around her head. Her lips were closed in a slight smile, she seemed sad. And why not? Severus had killed her after all.  
  
Tears were now flowing freely down Severus' face. 'Why?' was all she could manage.  
  
'She would have killed us,' Severus told her without remorse.  
  
'You didn't have to kill her, you could have stunned her, or hexed her, or anything other than killing her. She was only a child.' Hermione cried.  
  
'She was a werewolf Hermione,' Severus rationalized.  
  
'She was a little girl.' Hermione cried, 'And you killed her.'  
  
Hermione ran out of the forest with tears running down her face, she'd never be able to look at Severus the same way again. To think that she'd fallen in love with a murderer.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. My sincerest apologies dear readers, but you'll thank me for this later. I'll review within the week I think.  
  
Thanks:  
  
  
  
Amara Tsu: *tear* no review. I know they were bad, but were they really that bad?  
  
SarahAmanda: Thanks  
  
Leper Messiah and Blue Crayon: Thanks for the professor thing, I wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Tee Hee....apple.  
  
Stargazer Starluver: I'm definitely enjoying having Hermione and Severus sparring all the time, and the cliffhangers of course.  
  
Toreshi-san: I'm glad someone caught the Labyrinth reference.  
  
Belle Mortis:The raisin thing was a movie reference from Benny and Joon.... but I guess it was in the deleted scenes from Pirates of the Carribean because Johnny Depp steals his improv.  
  
Nicky Black:*curtsies* thankee sai  
  
Song4Fluffy:I'm happy someone caught the Benny and Joon reference as well, I was worried it was going to confuse everyone and it wouldn't be funny.  
  
EmpressSarah1: Glad you caught the Labyrinth reference. If you like the Rocky Horror Picture show as well, you should check out my Laby/Rocky crossover fic.  
  
Casiana Joy:Stop whining about the cliffhangers, they're necessary for plot reasons. You'll find out what Dumbledore said in chapter 13.  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: *hangs head in shame* I've regressed back to the cliffhangers.  
  
Hermine-Severus-Fan: Thanks, more soon. 


	12. Cold Hard Bitch

Chapter Twelve  
  
Cold Hard Bitch  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Disclaimer: Not Mine  
  
A.N. I was thinking of doing a Sirius and Remus romance fic, what does everyone think? It's been floating around in my brain for a while, so if you're interested put it in a review and I'll put a chapter up.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
'What the hell was she doing there in the first place Albus?' Severus was ranting about in the headmaster's office. 'A little girl like that in the middle of the forest all by herself! How did she get there? Why wasn't someone watching her? Even if they didn't know she was a werewolf you don't just leave a child like that all alone! No one has reported a missing child, and there haven't been any unexplained maulings. Something is going on, six-year-old werewolves don't just appear out of thin air!'  
  
Dumbledore sat behind his desk, calmly surveying Severus over his folded hands.   
  
Severus collapsed into a chair. 'And Hermione won't even talk to me, Albus,' he said weakly. 'Not for three days. I saved her life, and she won't forgive me for it.'  
  
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, 'Maybe you should take a week off Severus. Go home and get some rest.'  
  
'I can't just run away, I think I love her.'  
  
Dumbledore frowned  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione awoke with tears dried on her face. She didn't know why, but the fall-out with Severus was tearing her apart. Severus had saved her life, but it had been at the cost of another. She hated the whole situation. Why did this have to happen?   
  
It wasn't in her heart to forgive him just yet, but while she pretended to be an ice queen she wasn't, and she really needed him.  
  
She couldn't tell anyone about what had happened, and that made things even worse.   
  
A tapping at the window brought her out of her thoughts. She went over to the casement and let a large black owl into the room. She recognized the owl immediately as having belonged to Sirius Black, the letter it bore however was covered with Remus Lupin's handwriting.   
  
With trembling fingers she unrolled the piece of parchment.  
  
Hermione,  
  
I've just heard about what happened. I realize that you can't tell the others about it, and I wanted to let you know that if you need to talk to someone I'm here.  
  
~Remus J. Lupin  
  
The letter brought a weak smile to Hermione's face. She didn't think that she could really talk to Remus though, because while he did know what had happened in the forest he didn't know what had happened between her and Severus in the few days before the incident in the forest.   
  
They had fallen in love.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Severus was picking unenthusiastically at his eggs when Hermione came into the Great Hall. He watched her desperately as she sat down at the Gryffindor table.   
  
He very much wished to speak with Hermione, but wasn't sure what he should say to her. That he was sorry? Was he sorry? No, he decided, he wasn't.  
  
Hermione saw him looking at her from the staff table, and she got up and left.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Severus was very surprised when Hermione showed up for their scheduled potion session. He'd taken the trouble to make some tea, but she wouldn't have any. She wouldn't look at him either, but she had shown up.  
  
Severus couldn't decide what to say to her, so he told her what to do to the potion and she followed his instructions unerringly, never once looking at him or saying a single word.  
  
She was getting ready to leave when she finally spoke. 'Professor Snape,' she started resignedly. 'After next week, when we finish the potion, I don't want to see you again. Not outside of class. You're not the same person to me anymore.' Hermione picked up her bag.  
  
'I thought I told you to call me Severus,' he said weakly, trying to smile.  
  
Hermione looked away from him and left.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Severus picked a teacup up off of the desk and threw it across the room into the fireplace. The cup shattered into a hundred pieces.   
  
Severus wanted to curl up into a ball on the floor and die. Instead he decided to go home.   
  
He flood himself back to his manor and went up to his room.   
  
He locked the door to his bedroom and lifted the loose floorboard under his bed. He removed a muggle stereo and a handful of cd's. His father had been dead for many years now and he no longer needed to hide it. He only did it from habit now, and because it felt wrong leaving it out after hiding it for so many years.  
  
Muggle music had always been his escape, and now he needed it more than ever.  
  
He laid back on his bed and turned the music up all the way, droning out everything else.  
  
Gotta leave town   
  
Got another appointment  
  
Spent all my rent  
  
Girl you know you enjoyed it  
  
Ain't gonna hang around till there's nobody dancing  
  
I don't wanna hold hands and talk about our plans, alright!  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
Just a kiss on the lips  
  
And I was on my knees   
  
I'm waiting, give me  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
She was shakin' her hips   
  
That's all I need  
  
Gonna check her out   
  
She's my latest attraction  
  
Gonna hang Tround   
  
Wanna get a reaction  
  
Gonna take her home Tcos she's over romancing  
  
Don't wanna hold hands and talk about her plans alright!  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
Just a kiss on the lips  
  
And I was on my knees   
  
I'm waiting, give me  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
She was shakin' her hips   
  
And that was all I need  
  
I'm waiting give me  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
Just a kiss on the lips   
  
And I was on my knees  
  
Yeah I'm waiting  
  
Yeah I'm waiting  
  
Yeah I'm waiting  
  
Yeah I'm waiting  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
Just a kiss on the lips  
  
And I was on my knees   
  
I'm waiting, give me  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
She was shakin' her hips   
  
And that was all I need  
  
I'm waiting give me  
  
Cold hard bitch  
  
Just a kiss on the lips   
  
And I was on my knees  
  
I'm waiting give me  
  
Severus felt warm tears running down his cheeks  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione braced herself and entered The Lionhearts' practice room.   
  
Ginny walked over and smiled at her brightly. 'Have you picked your song for the Halloween Ball out yet? Nearly Headless Nick needs to know which one you've chosen.'  
  
Nearly Headless Nick floated over. 'Yes Hermione, you need to decide which song you want to play.'  
  
'I want to play the one I've been working on,' her eyes glinted.  
  
'Can we hear it already, we've been in suspense for months,' Shawn said smiling.  
  
Hermione nodded, and she lifted her microphone out of it's stand and began to sing soulfully. Tears running down her face.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A.N. I realize that the last few chapters have been kind of short, but the next one is really long. Cold Hard Bitch is a song by Jet.  
  
Thanks:  
  
Sarahamanda: thank you kindly, you're just going to have to wait and see what happens next.  
  
Belle Mortis: Happy Birthday on Sunday *hands belle a piece of acid green birthday cake*  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: The werewolf is dead, sorry. This chapter didn't have a cliffhanger.  
  
Anarane Anwamane: It is Romance/Angst  
  
Casiana Joy: You'll find out more of what's going on in the next chapter.  
  
Aindel S. Druida: No principle character death from me, I promise. I have a very large grudge against J.K. Rowling for killing off my Sirius. ...On second thought, I might kill off that Harry kid, I never really liked him.  
  
Sara Lily Potter: Thankee, I'm happy now.  
  
Mademoiselle Morte: You'll find out in chapter 13 what Dumbledore said,...actually you might want to make that chapter 15.  
  
Ravn2-16: He couldn't tell that she was a little girl until he killed her.  
  
No review from Amara Tsu again, that makes me sad. 


	13. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Chapter Thirteen  
  
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds  
  
Disclaimer: Not Mine  
  
A.N. This one's a bit longer, so it took me a while to update. I hope you like. Here goes.  
  
Severus spent the entire weekend locked in his room, lying on his bed, and listening to various muggle rock music at full volume. Dennis brought him all of his meals along with a barrage of worried questions. This made Severus think of a time not so long ago when an oddly similar situation involving a group of Gryffindors who called themselves the marauders, a girl, and a werewolf. This situation had also landed him locked in his room, except that time it had been his father interrogating him at the door and he hadn't sounded the least bit worried.   
  
Dennis was hard pressed to discover the reason behind his master's melancholy, but his suspicion rested with the girl: Hermione. Dennis wondered what horrible act his master had done to receive her ill favor.  
  
Severus almost didn't go back to school on Monday, but he decided that he would only raise suspicion if he took the week off. Besides, the Halloween Ball would be coming up on Friday and all of the teachers would be needed.  
  
Hermione chose not to attend Potion on Monday morning. She didn't want to get into trouble for skipping , but she doubted Severus would have the guts to mark her absent. The fact of the matter was that she really couldn't stand to have to deal with him that early in the morning.  
  
Hermione decided to fall back on her safety zone and just go up to the library instead. Madam Pince gave her dirty looks every time she was within sight, but never said anything.  
  
Hermione picked up a book on defensive and offensive magic, hoping that she'd be able to find a good curse to use on Severus when he wasn't looking.  
  
Hermione was going to sit down at an empty table, but she really couldn't bear to be all by herself. She looked around for someone to sit by, but didn't see anyone else. She was about to give up when she realized that most of the people who skip probably didn't go to the library, but then she spotted a girl in Gryffindor robes facing the wall at a corner table all by herself. Hermione didn't recognize the girl, she was in a younger year to be sure, she extraordinarily long silky black hair that was in a messy bun and half hidden under a shiny black vinyl muggle hat. The girl had her nose buried in a book on beauty charms.  
  
Hermione really wasn't looking forward to sitting next to some conceited first year who only cared about how she looked, but she dreaded sitting all alone.  
  
Hermione threw her bag down on the floor next to the chair opposite the girl and sat down. 'You don't mind if I sit here do you? There wasn't anyone else in the library and I wanted a witness if Madam Pince decided to hex me for skipping .' Hermione laughed nervously and suddenly fell silent as a very familiar pair of deep blue eyes, lined in black and masked in a cloud of light blue eyeshadow, peered at her over the top of the book. 'Shawn!' she exclaimed and fell backward off of her chair.  
  
Shawn's eyes widened, 'Shhh!' He put a finger to his lips and glanced furtively around the library to make sure no one was watching.  
  
Hermione climbed back onto her chair and straightened her robes. 'Corso, what the hell? You're wearing makeup and what's with the hair?'  
  
Shawn blushed, 'Do you promise not to laugh?'  
  
Hermione frowned and nodded, 'This aught to be good.'  
  
Shawn sighed, 'Well this morning I woke up really early and I couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to go down to the library and look up some charms. I wanted to make my hair long for the concert, so I'd look like a rock star. So I found the book and I charmed my hair, and that looked really cool, so I decided I should do makeup for my eyes too. So I did them in blue because Ginny said that it would compliment my eye , but then my eyes looked really funny with my light brown hair so I decided to charm it so it would be really deep black, but then I still wasn't satisfied and I wanted it to be glittery, not glam rock glittery just sort of shiny, and that's when something went wrong I think. Because I was looking at myself in the mirror, looking mighty fine mind you, and I noticed that my hair had gotten longer.'  
  
Hermione gave him a pitying look, 'But you wanted your hair longer, remember, you charmed it.'   
  
Shawn sighed, 'Well yeah, but it had grown like two feet since I'd shaded my eyes and had used the mirror last. And now it won't stop growing, so I'm trying to find a charm to make it stop, because I can't go to the infirmary because I'll get in trouble.'  
  
'Madam Pompfrey won't turn you in. She might reprimand you a little for using cosmetic charms that are too advanced, but she won't give you detention.'  
  
'But what if someone recognizes me, I'll be the laughing stock of the whole school. A rock concert is one thing, but they're not going to let me get away with it today. What if Snape sees me?'  
  
Hermione frowned, 'You don't have to worry about Snape I don't think.'  
  
'Couldn't you just fix it? It would only take you a second.' Shawn begged.  
  
'But where would the lesson be in that?' Hermione asked sagely.  
  
'I hate to remind you, Hermione dear, but you are in no position to lecture me when you yourself are skipping .' Shawn frowned, 'Wait a tic, why are you skipping ? I didn't know that you were capable of skipping .'  
  
Hermione's eyes widened. 'Fine, I'll fix your hair just drop it.' She grabbed the book out of Shawn's hands.   
  
Shawn smirked, 'Seems I've stumbled upon something. Hmm.' Shawn scratched his head. 'What in the name of Merlin could Hermione Granger skip ? Gasp,' Shawn made a little shocked gesture and covered his mouth with his hand, 'What would your study group think?'  
  
Shawn thought she was going to curse him when a beam of silver light shot out of her wand, but then he relaxed when she began to fondle his hair.  
  
'Is this length okay?'  
  
Shawn felt up to his hair, which fell just below his chin. 'Perfect,' he smiled. 'But now I want an explanation, 'Mione. Why are you skipping ?'  
  
Hermione sighed, 'Needy little bugger aren't you?' Shawn nodded. 'Yes well, I hardly think it's anything you can help me with. Men troubles you know...'  
  
Shawn sighed and mumbled, 'Boy do I ever.'  
  
'But I'm not going to put up with this from a boy who's hiding out in the library because he looks like a girl.' Hermione interjected. 'So I'll be off now,' and with that she left the library feeling considerably better than she had on arrival.  
  
Hermione was walking to lunch after Arithmancy when Harry suddenly pounced into the hallway in front of her.  
  
'Hermione dearest, I need to talk to you.' His voice was full of false kindness.  
  
'So talk,' Hermione said walking towards the Great Hall.  
  
Harry jogged to keep up. 'Hermione it's about Snape.'  
  
Hermione grimaced and quickened her pace. 'Yeah, what about Snape?'  
  
Harry grabbed Hermione's shoulder, stopping her and spinning her around. 'Tell me that I'm wrong about Snape.' Harry's eyes were pleading.  
  
Hermione frowned, 'You're wrong about Snape.' She started off towards the Great Hall again.  
  
Harry ran after Hermione, 'Am I really?'  
  
'I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.'  
  
'Don't you?' Harry was having trouble keeping up with her now, and they were nearly to the Great Hall.  
  
Hermione stopped abruptly and spun around to face him once more. 'Could we discuss this later please.'  
  
Harry's eyes widened. 'I'm right aren't I?'  
  
'That depends.' Hermione looked at him searchingly and realized that he wasn't going to be satisfied until he knew the truth, or at least a lie that was eighty percent truth.   
  
'On what?'  
  
'On what you're talking about.'  
  
Harry grimaced. 'I'm not completely stupid Hermione. All the late night potion sessions, the happy little smile on your lips, and then skipping today I know something is going on.'  
  
Hermione sighed. 'That doesn't mean anything Harry and you know it. I skipped today because I needed to help Shawn with a personal problem that he was having, and you know that I've been working on that potion for the order.'  
  
Harry nodded, with a smile that was more of a grimace. 'You're right, none of that means anything. But last Saturday you were wearing his shirt. I thought that it was Viktor Krum's at first because I know he comes to visit you when he's touring in England, but then I saw Snape wearing it at our midnight potions on Tuesday.'  
  
Hermione was shocked, but she covered it well, 'I just borrowed his shirt because mine got all muddy in the forest when we were working on the potion.'  
  
Harry rolled his eyes, 'That might have worked with Neville, Hermione, but I'm not that thick. I know you could have fixed it with your wand. Besides, you never came to the dormitories on Friday night.'  
  
Hermione bit her lip, feeling less and less self-assured by the minute. 'I told you that I went down to the kitchens to talk to the house elves that morning.'  
  
Harry shook his head.  
  
Hermione sighed, defeated. 'How much of this have you told Ron?'  
  
'Nothing. How much am I correct about?' Harry searched his face.  
  
'Oh all of it I imagine,' Hermione said in a blithe sarcastic tone.  
  
Harry looked like he was going to collapse onto the floor and go into convulsions. 'Oh, yew. Yuck, Hermione, that's so wrong. No. Ah, no. Hermione, no. With Snape? I'm not going to be able to look at you ever again, you know that?'  
  
Hermione blushed, 'Shut up Harry. Oh, and don't tell Ron. Don't tell anyone, because if you do I'll have to curse you into the next millennium.'  
  
Harry had no doubts that she would do just that. 'Fine, but you owe me one. And if I have to hear anything about it I'll probably projectile vomit all over you.'  
  
Hermione shook her head, 'Can we just go to lunch then?'  
  
'Alright,' Harry said and followed her into the Great Hall.  
  
'Oh my god, about damn time,' Ginny Weasley was squealing over her costume for the Halloween Ball concert.  
  
Hermione looked up at Shawn who handed her a black garment bag. He smiled down at her through a sheet of shimmering black hair.   
  
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, 'What are you smiling about?'  
  
'I didn't have anything to do with it, I swear,' Shawn said beaming.  
  
Hermione raised her eyebrow, 'Anything to do with what?'  
  
'Oh my god, I am so not wearing this!' Hermione turned to look at Ginny who had turned bright red all over. She was holding up her band costume. It comprised of a very short black vinyl skirt and a scarlet and gold vinyl top that looked more like a bra. She spun the skirt around, to reveal 'The Lionhearts,' across the back in scarlet letters edged in gold stitching. 'Is this a costume or a swimsuit?' Ginny asked skeptically.  
  
Hermione frowned, 'Well, I think I'll wear something else. Who was in charge of the costumes anyway?'  
  
Shawn smiled, 'Why Sir Nicholas of course. He may be dead, but he's not about to let that stop him from having fun.'  
  
Hermione groaned, 'Now that is disgusting.' She turned to Ginny. 'I have a sewing machine up in my room, come on up and we'll see what we can do to alter them. If all else fails, we can sneak out to Hogsmede and buy something.'  
  
Shawn smirked and started laughing as the Hermione and Ginny left the common room and went up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.  
  
Hermione went down to the dungeons for the final potion session feeling rather miffed. The very last thing that she wanted to do at the moment was to see Severus. If she was being completely honest with herself she had to admit that she really wasn't that mad at him. She was actually planning on forgiving him, but she'd decided to wait until she was in a better mood.  
  
However, when she arrived in Severus' office, she was surprised to see Professor Dumbledore sitting behind the desk.   
  
'I hope you don't mind my subbing in for Severus tonight.' Dumbledore said kindly.  
  
Hermione smiled, 'No, not at all, I'm a bit relieved actually.'  
  
'I see,' Dumbledore raised his fluffy eyebrows. 'Severus went home early tonight, because he wasn't feeling well. I do hope that things resolve themselves, he's been a bit of a mess as of late.'  
  
'Really?' A look of concern came over Hermione's face.   
  
Dumbledore nodded gravely and handed Hermione dragon scales, a bowl, and a pestle.  
  
Hermione groaned, starting to wish that Severus was there instead. At least that way she wouldn't have to grind up the dragon scales, as small a consolation as it was.  
  
Dumbledore sighed. 'I know what's going on between the two of you Hermione.'   
  
Hermione looked up, surprised. 'I...' She sarted but Dumbledore cut her off.  
  
'Hermione, I don't approve, but I'm not going to take action against it. However, I am worried about Severus. He's been through quite a lot, and I do not want him to do anything stupid. Do you understand, Hermione?'  
  
Hermione nodded, feeling horrible.  
  
'Do you think that you could find it in your heart of heart's to forgive him, he was only protecting you after all.'  
  
Hermione smiled, 'Yeah, I think I know just how to make it up to him.'  
  
Dumbledore smiled blithely. 'I think I'll pretend that I didn't hear that last bit.' He plugged his ears and began to wistle loudly.  
  
Hermione blushed. She'd had something else in mind, but they would be done with the potion after all.  
  
A.N. Yeah I know that I said it would be long, and it kind of was, but I decided to give the Halloween Ball it's own chapter.  
  
Thanks: I'm going on vacation in like ten minutes, so the bul of these are going to have to wait until the next update...should be next week some time.  
  
I want to give special thanks to Sam though, because she's always reading these and I never give her a thank you, even though her reviews are the most important. So... thanks for curing my writers block, and keeping me from making the fic far too coincidental...even if it did work for Charles Dickens. Snaps for Samma. 


	14. This is a Song for the Broken Hearted

Chapter Fourteen  
  
This is a Song for the Broken Hearted  
  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, and the song title is a deliberate misquote of lyrics from Jon Bon Jovi.  
  
A.N. I hope this is worth the wait.  
  
A billion tiny stars twinkled, tiny pinpricks in the deeps curtain of night. Lightening snaked across the ceiling, between patches of pink and lavender cloud.  
  
Convulsed over his magic guitar Shawn Corso strummed out the end of a vibrant guitar solo in a fit of motion. The hall fell silent for a brief moment before erupting into applause.  
  
The crowd once more fell silent as the spotlight engulfed the Lionhearts in a bath of pink light.   
  
Shawn stepped back, lowering his head so that his glimmering black hair hung over his face. Given his own artistic license Shawn had done little to change his original costume. He wore a pair of very tight black leather pants over a pair of scarlet dragon skin boots. He wore a long sleeved scarlet fishnet shirt under his sleeveless Lionhearts Jacket. His jacket was made of black denim and adorned with a Lionhearts patch on the back.  
  
Dean Thomas slowly began to tap out a single note, establishing the beat. Sat behind his drum set he was dressed identically to Shawn, save that he oddly wore no shoes.   
  
Violet matched Dean's beat on her keyboard. Violet bobbed her head, apiece of her short purple hair hung over her left eye. She wore a silken black bell sleeved top over black bell-bottom pants and black tennis shoes with purple laces. The large hoop earrings in her ears and the bangles on her wrist reflected the light from the spotlight.   
  
Ginny had dressed to match Violet, except that she wore red laces in her shoes.  
  
Finally, Hermione stepped forward into the halo of soft pink light and glitter began to float down from the ceiling into the crowd. Hermione wore the short vinyl skirt that had originally been part of her costume. She'd laced a pair of black knee-high platform boots with scarlet and gold ribbon. Her eyes scanned the crown desperately to find Severus. She finally spotted him, seated at to the left side of the crowd at a table with Dumbledore. He was staring at her breathlessly, but refused to meet her eyes. She bowed her head finally, clasping her microphone to her chest in trembling fingerless leather glove clad hands. She had a scarlet tube top on under her unbuttoned navy blue denim Lionhearts jacket.  
  
Shawn and Ginny began to play behind her and she cleared her mouth before opening her mouth to sing.  
  
'I'd been real sad for a long long time,  
  
But then I saw you standing there  
  
Wearing black with your long hair.  
  
I felt your arms caress my soul.   
  
I broke my heart the day I let you go.'  
  
She looked up at the lightening flecked ceiling, tears flowing from her eyes and glitter falling like snow into her hair.  
  
'And all of the world is a twirl,  
  
Spinning madly in a whirl.  
  
I had you once.  
  
I let you go.  
  
And now I'm standing outside in the rain,  
  
Trying to find some kind of rest for my fevered brain.'  
  
Hermione met Severus' eyes across the hall, and saw a single tear running down his cheek.  
  
'And I'm sorry for all of the things that I've said  
  
I'm sorry I never took you to bed  
  
And I'm standing outside in the rain,  
  
Looking up at your door  
  
And trying to stifle the pain.'   
  
I had you once.   
  
I can't let go.  
  
But I thought you might like to know  
  
That I'm standing outside in the rain.  
  
And I don't know how much longer I can wait.  
  
For you.'  
  
Hermione's last two words were spoken in a whisper that echoed through the Great Hall before the entire room exploded into cheers.  
  
Hermione's eyes met Severus' for a brief instant before she ran backstage, tears streaming down her face.  
  
Deep in the crowd Harry looked over at Severus Snape, who was whispering into Dumbledore's ear.   
  
Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat and cleared his throat, causing the entire hall to abruptly fall silent.   
  
'I'd like to open he stage to a little karaoke from the staff. I myself would like to start with my favorite song. That was originally written by four men that would have giver the marauders a run for their money. When I'm Sixty-Four by the Beatles.'  
  
Harry was the only other person in the room that fully understood everything that Dumbledore had just said. Harry had always thought that Dumbledore liked to talk a lot of nonsense, but now he wondered if everything he said really made sense if you understood where he was coming from.   
  
In any case Harry only caught the first stanza before he was out of earshot, trying to locate Hermione back stage.  
  
'When I get older losing my hair   
  
many years from now   
  
will you still be sending me a valentine   
  
birthday greeting, bottle of wine   
  
If I'd been out till quarter to three   
  
would you lock the door   
  
Will you still need me   
  
Will you still feed me   
  
When I'm sixty-four.'  
  
Harry searched through a maze of curtains backstage looking for Hermione. He finally found her leaning against a large wooden crate with her knees pulled up against her chest.   
  
Harry crouched down next to Hermione and gently pulled her hair out of her face. Hermione looked up at him with glittering tear filled eyes.  
  
Harry smiled at her. 'Dumbledore's singing When I'm Sixty-Four.'  
  
Hermione gave him a weak smile. 'Really?'  
  
Harry nodded, 'Are you going to be okay?'  
  
Hermione sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes, she took a breath and stood up, clasping Harry's arm for support. 'Yeah I think I'll be fine. I just want to sit down somewhere.'  
  
Harry took her back out into the throng and led her by the arm to an empty table near the back.  
  
Hermione sat down and buried her head in her arms. She had pounded every ounce of emotion she had experienced over the past couple of weeks into that one song, and it had left her feeling drained. She wanted nothing more than to curl up next to Severus and fall into a deep enveloping sleep. She'd forgiven him, yes, but the real question was whether or not he had forgiven her.  
  
Hermione had begun to sink into an emotionless stupor when she heard a familiar voice drifting over the crowd, magically amplified by a microphone. Hermione abruptly looked up to see Severus Snape up on stage, looking very out of place amongst the pools of glitter and pink spotlight.  
  
Across the sea of student their eyes met at last and he smiled.  
  
'Young girl, get out of my mind  
  
My love for you is way out of line  
  
Better run, girl,  
  
You're much too young, girl'  
  
He sang in a deep tuneful voice, never breaking his eyes away from Hermione.  
  
'With all the charms of a woman  
  
You've kept the secret of your youth  
  
You led me to believe  
  
You're old enough  
  
To give me Love  
  
And now it hurts to know the truth, Oh,  
  
Beneath your perfume and make-up  
  
You're just a baby in disguise  
  
And though you know  
  
That it is wrong to be  
  
Alone with me  
  
That come on look is in your eyes, Oh,  
  
So hurry home to your mama  
  
I'm sure she wonders where you are'  
  
Severus looked sadly at her for a moment longer and then looked down at his feet.  
  
'Get out of here  
  
Before I have the time  
  
To change my mind  
  
'Cause I'm afraid we'll go too far, Oh,  
  
Young girl'  
  
Severus finished his song, and was greeted by very confused polite applause. He   
  
bowed and met Hermione's eyes again before running out onto the grounds.  
  
Hermione looked at Harry, her eyes full of hurt confusion. Harry only looked at her indecisively. Hermione wanted to scream out in utter despair, but instead she held it all in and walked inconspicuously out onto the grounds.   
  
Once she was out of the castle Hermione ran desperately towards Severus, simultaneously being drenched by the falling rain. She clasped onto his arm, tears running down her cheeks.  
  
Severus stopped walking and turned to look at her.  
  
His cold emotionless eyes caused Hermione to fall to her knees in a puddle. Sobbing, she clung to Severus' ankle.   
  
Severus knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, kissing away her rain soaked tears. He stood up with her in his arms pulling her into a standing position. 'Silly girl,' he whispered in her ear over and over again as she clung to his chest. "Don't you see that this is best?'  
  
Hermione broke into another fit of sobs.  
  
'It's not meant to be Hermione, it's dangerous, for both of us.' He embraced her tightly; tears running unashamedly down his own face. 'Let me go.'  
  
'I can't,' She said weakly, 'I love you.'  
  
Severus looked down at her, his face full of pain. 'I love you too.'  
  
Hermione smiled, still crying. 'Then, what does it matter?'  
  
Severus smiled. She was right, what did it matter? If they loved each other than nothing else could touch them. He'd rather spend ten minutes with her wrapped in his arms, than live a hundred years alone. 'It doesn't,' he said finally. 'Can you forgive me?'  
  
She smiled at him and wiped the tears from her eyes. 'Silly professor,' she said at last and kissed the tip of his nose on tiptoe. 'Of course I forgive you.'  
  
Hermione and Severus sat on a secluded bench by the lake, hidden from the school by the overhanging branches of a nearby willow tree. Hermione leaned against Severus' chest gazing up at him and twirling a lock of his dripping wet hair between her fingers.  
  
'Severus?' Hermione asked softly.  
  
'Yes.' He looked down at her lovingly.  
  
'What was her name?' Hermione asked, causing Severus to look down at her in confusion. 'The girl,' Hermione added. 'What was her name?'  
  
Severus bit his lip and answered her reluctantly. 'Rebecca, her name was Rebecca.'  
  
Hermione smiled. 'I was going to test you. I wasn't going to forgive you unless you cared enough to find out what her name was, but then I realized that I loved you and nothing else mattered anymore.'  
  
Severus sighed. 'Of course I care, but that doesn't mean that I regret what I did. It was very unfortunate, and I lament that it had to happen, but I did it to save you, Hermione, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I love you more than anything, and that's not right either, but if anything had happened I couldn't have handled it. It would have destroyed me Hermione. I would rather die a thousand deaths than see you hurt in any way Hermione. That's why I can't let you go even though I know that I should, and that's why I killed that werewolf. Can you understand that?'  
  
Hermione smiled. 'Yes, it doesn't mean that I think you're right, but I understand.'  
  
They sat in silence for a long time, only the patter of rain as it splattered their clothes and the thunder and lightening overhead permeating the silence, before Hermione finally spoke again.  
  
'I want to name our first child Rebecca,' she said softly, closing her eyes.  
  
Severus smiled, closed his eyes, and rested his head against hers.  
  
The patter of rain and the thunder and lightening went on as they slipped into the treacle depths of sleep. Two lost souls clasped in each other's arms, for one brief moment they were no longer lost but found within each other, sleeping in the rain.  
  
A.N. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I sort of hit a block. I hope you liked it. For all of you who were expecting a juicy sex scene you're just going to have to grin and bear it, ...at least until the next chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: When I'm Sixty-Four is by the Beatles, Young Girl is by Gary Puckett, and The Rain is by me, so that's probably why it sucks.  
  
Thanks:...I'm kinda backlogged on these, so I'll do them by chapter.  
  
Chapter 11:  
  
stargazer starluver: I have a plot planned in the back of my mind, .. the thing is, by the time it comes around to put certain things into the story I'll screw up and then my plot won't work.  
  
Amara Tsu: pats Amara on the shoulder It's okay, you are forgiven. I realize how much moving really sucks ass. My computer has been broken for the past month now, which apart from the writer's block is the other reason I'm so slow updating. I'm sorry I killed the werewolf, but I had to think of a really good reason for Hermione to be mad at Sevi. I needed her to be mad at him in order for my feeble plot to work, so I was cornered. Thanks for another wonderful review by the way.  
  
adnarel: 'Mione will be all right.  
  
Chapter 12:  
  
Belle Mortis: Sevi's tear at the ball while Hermione was singing was just for you. How was your birthday?  
  
Sarahamanda: Writer's block is a bitch.  
  
Mademoiselle Morte: I didn't really think that Hermione was being a bitch, but I was feeling rather angry when I wrote that chapter and I had that song stuck in my head.  
  
sallene: I'm glad that you're enjoying my fic, and I'm sorry I'm so lousy at updating in a decent time frame.  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: I think I should have my Sirius/Remus fic up by the end of the week. I have the rough draft done, I just need to type it up, I think that you'll like it though.  
  
Anarane Anwamane: Thankee-sai  
  
Aindel S. Druida: I'm just bitter because Sirius died. I need to blame it on someone, and Harry's around more often than Bellatrix. Sirius isn't dead anyway though, he's only D... He'll be back; we've not heard the last of Sirius Black.  
  
adnarel: exactly like you said: 'ahh fuck, Severus needs to hear that song.' I'd wot there's two thinks in that sentence that dear Severus needs.  
  
Pixie-dust2525: Thank you, and again sorry for the slow update. Writer's block is a bitch.  
  
crazley: Jet is a bit of a newfound obsession for me. I'm getting their cd tonight.  
  
Chapter 13:  
  
Anarane Anwamane: Meddling and old yes, a fool no.  
  
Lucifer Yaway: I'm glad that you like the outside influences; I'm always self-conscious of those. I love the penname by the way; almost...I don't know... the two characteristics of man. Clever. Of course, I'm probably reading too much into it. Oh, well, it's clever either way, kudos.  
  
sallene: The Harry being grossed out thing was inspired by my friend Sam, who hates that I tend to leave Harry in the background too much because I'm angry with him.  
  
Daxi: hangs head in shame The dreaded writers block fell on top of me.  
  
Mademoiselle Morte: Yes, poor Shawn. He was created for the sole purpose of my own sick pleasure at having fun with his little psyche, because to him I AM GOD!  
  
Sarahamanda: thanks  
  
Belle Mortis: Writer's block is a bitch, and no Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is not about drugs. My friend Sam was all in favor of hanging you from the ceiling by your ankles, but I'm too nice for that so I'm just going to lightly reprimand you. FOR SHAME! Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a song that was inspired by a drawing that John's son Julian did of his friend Lucy. You should now feel enlightened.  
  
Emma Snape: Tee Hee, Thankee-sai.  
  
crazley: lmao?  
  
Kouga'seagleforever: blush and toes the floor aww shucks. Lot's of plotty goodness to come.... damn bunnies.  
  
Aindel S. Druida: sigh the Beatles are great for getting songs stuck in your head, if nothing else. Thanks.  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: yes yes, lets all just dissolve into less-than-inconspicuous sexual innuendo. Tee Hee.  
  
Draco-FutureBF:. ...Writers block....dissolves into British obscenities  
  
Ana Morales: I realize the progression of 'Mione and Sevi's relationship went a little fast, but (as I've said before) I didn't really feel like going through twenty chapters of them 'getting to know each other better' for a twenty-four chapter fic.  
  
Lady-In-Devil's-Red: Here I am blushing again. I could point out a whole bunch of things that are wrong with my fic, but if you don't see them I'm not about to go pointing them out. I'm glad you found it funny...my feeble attempt at humor. But anyway, thanks a heap.  
  
snakes20: I'm glad you liked it, but you should check out Making My Head Spin by Slytheringirl it's really great.  
  
Jane Padfoot: Again, Writer's block. I'm going to try to update more frequently though, as soon as my computer is fixed...hopefully Monday.  
  
Barymic: I do so enjoy torturing Shawn, that's his lot in life I'm afraid. Sides, he'd look awfully hot with long hair and some eyeliner.  
  
Amara Tsu: Can't imagine why you'd be worried about the ball... I have this really sexy vinyl trench coat that would look awfully hot with one of those skirts.. sigh And you're just going to have to wait for the sex scene until next chapter like everybody else. Yeah well, Snape singing is a bit out of character as well, but I just couldn't resist. I do so love your long random notes though, they're better than blasé reviews any day. Today's rent a senior day and I have my friend Tony walking around the school with red hair, an earring, eyeliner, a collar, and my trench coat, he's looking awfully sexy. Hmm? I get to go camping with a whole bunch of my friends this weekend...yeah camping...what a joke, satellite TV and air conditioning in a two-bedroom camper with a deck. Oh well, ...beats roughing it. I better go though; I have to finish typing this up before the passing bell rings.  
  
Damon Lowe: Oh yes, bloody good fun,...just you wait.  
  
r.s: yes dear, an update just for you, and a lollipop as well hands r.s a loli  
  
Other:  
  
Desert-Rose6: I'm glad that you liked the stone thing because I was feeling really self-conscious that it was too corny.   
  
adnarel: I think that I'm shooting for 24 chapters on this fic. I'll review your stories tomorrow once I post a chapter on another story.  
  
Jane Padfoot: I like the odd couples, and Snape as well of course, now that my beloved Sirius is dead :(.  
  
r.s: hides beware r.s.'s nerves....run away, run away. I'm sorry. IT WAS THE WRITER'S BLOCK! IT WAS THE WRITER'S BLOCK!!!!!  
  
Shameless Plugging of Other Fics:  
  
Rose Tint My World: This is a delectable little Rocky Horror Labyrinth crossover that goes along the same kind of lines as this fic. If you've seen Labyrinth and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and you're still reading this fic you'll probably love it.  
  
The Muses Melody: This is a POTC fic, but it's only one chapter long because it hasn't gotten any reviews yet so I haven't continued. If I get one review I'll put up another chapter. It should develop into a Jack/ Norrington slash fic.  
  
Rough Diamonds and Flighty Sparrows: Another POTC fic, which I find rather funny, but doesn't get a lot of recognition. There's a little,...okay, a lot... of slash between Jack and this funny red headed guy. Then Jack and Nat (the redhead), and 'Elizabeth and Will all go on a little adventure.  
  
A Lover's Lament: A one shot Philadelphia fic that I wrote at four a.m. after I saw the movie for the first time.   
  
Not Your Average Pussy Cat: Another Harry Potter fic, from the marauders era. It entails how they became animagi and the events that followed. It's only two chapters right now though; I refuse to have more chapters on a story than I have reviews, unless I have my friends on my case about it.  
  
Coming Soon:   
  
My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star: A Harry Potter fic. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black love story. It's been floating around in my head for a while and the rainbow colored plot bunnies are forcing it out. 


	15. A Song Worth Singing

Eternally Yours  
  
Chapter 15  
  
A Song Worth Singing  
  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the recognizable characters.  
  
A.N. Sorry for the lack of updates but my computer is broken, I'm typing this up on my mom's while she's gone so this might be a quick chapter.  
  
Severus awoke feeling groggy, Hermione wrapped in his arms. The first pink beams of morning light were shining over the eastern horizon. Severus tried to sit up, but his joints felt as thought they had been rusted closed.  
  
'Oil can,' he thought wryly, knowing Hermione would have appreciated it if she had been awake.   
  
He looked down at Hermione, dreaming happily nestled in his arms, and was come over with a kind of happiness that was new to him. He slid gracefully out from underneath her and stood up. Running his hands down the back of his spine he stretched and let out a long yawn. He then gently scooped Hermione into his arms and headed back up towards the castle.  
  
No students were allowed to be up walking about the castle this early in the morning, but Severus avoided using the main passageways of the castle as he snuck down to his room. He threw some floo powder into the fireplace and flooed himself to his manor to enjoy a leisurely Saturday with his girl.  
  
Many hours later Hermione awoke in Severus' huge black draped oak bed; she yawned sleepily and propped herself up on the pillows. She was a little disappointed to find that Severus was missing from the pillow beside her. Her disappointment was short lived, however, because just then Severus entered the room, bare chested and bearing gifts.   
  
Severus was smiling at her brightly over a tray laden with various fruits that was emitting an enticing aroma of bacon. 'Good you're up. I didn't want to wake you.' He sat down on the bed next to her, setting the tray down on the night stand, and leaned in to kiss her good morning.  
  
Hermione turned away at the last minute so that he kissed her cheek.   
  
Severus pulled back and narrowed his eyes at her a little put off.  
  
'I haven't brushed my teeth,' she said, smiling sweetly.  
  
Severus rolled his eyes. 'My tooth brush is in the bathroom you can use that if you want.'  
  
Hermione wrinkled her nose at him. 'Hygiene love. Sharing tooth brushes is a big no no. Besides, what do I look like? A herring?' She tried to grab her wand out of the inside pocket of her jacket, but found her jacket missing. She was once more wearing Severus' shirt.   
  
Severus raised an eyebrow at her, 'Do you really want me to answer that?'  
  
Hermione frowned at threw a bit of bacon at him.  
  
'Don't get bacon in my bed.'  
  
Hermione smirked, 'Severus darling, if this is your bed I'm sure it's seen a lot worse than a bit of bacon.'  
  
'What are you implying?'  
  
Hermione smiled innocently. 'Oh, nothing particular, just that greasy potion masters are known to be sexually frustrated and whenever they're not lusting over innocent teenage girls they tend to be, well....actively thinking about them if you know what I mean.'  
  
Severus smiled back at her. 'Well it's far better than being an academically dependant Gryffindor who actively thinks about Ron Weasley.'  
  
Hermione gaped, utterly without a comeback.  
  
Severus smiled at her lovingly, 'Your wand's in the drawer of the night stand dear.'  
  
Hermione turned, opened the drawer, snatched her wand out, transfigured the bottle of lotion lying there into a tooth brush, and stomped off towards the bathroom.   
  
Severus managed to stifle his giggles until she closed the door, but then he doubled over laughing. A minute later she returned and he struggled madly to regain his composure.  
  
Hermione glared at him. 'What's so funny.'  
  
Severus cleared his throat, and looked at her very seriously. 'Next time you think about Ron you can use your toothbrush. I personally find that particular brand of lotion to be quite pleasurable.'  
  
Hermione was on the verge of being angry when she burst into giggles, and tackled Severus to the pillows instead. Severus closed his eyes as she leaned in and kissed him. She pulled back, grinned a little and ran her tongue down his naked torso.   
  
Severus leaned back into the pillows and clamped his mouth shut against a moan as Hermione wrapped her tongue around his nipple. Then he couldn't bear it anymore, he clutched her to himself and spun her onto her back so that he was leaning over her. He practically ripped his shirt off of her, then unclasped her bra with his right hand as he pulled her skirt and white cotton panties down over her hips with his left. Then he looked her deeply in the eyes as he pressed his body against hers.  
  
Hermione kissed him lightly and said in a voice little above a whisper, 'Be gentle.'  
  
Then she ran her hands down his hips, slipping off the black velveteen pajama pants he wore. He was hard and naked underneath, not to mention well endowed. Hermione grinned secretly to herself as she ran her hands down the entire length of Severus' body.  
  
Severus moaned again and pressed himself into her.  
  
By afternoon the word gentle had left Severus and Hermione's vocabularies. Hermione lay sweating and exhausted against Severus' rising and falling chest. Severus was in much the same condition, absently running his hands through Hermione's damp hair   
  
'You didn't eat my breakfast,' he said at last, smiling.  
  
Hermione smirked, 'Well my mouth was a little busy most of the morning.'  
  
'I love you,' he said, kissing her forehead.  
  
Hermione was just about to reply that she loved him too when there was a loud pop and a third person appeared in the room.'  
  
A.N. Whoo hoo hoo, a sex scene and a cliff hanger. What will the bridge club think?  
  
Thanks:   
  
Amara Tsu:   
  
Who is Copacetic by? I have to hear it now, I have those lyrics stuck in my head and I don't even know the tune. I realize that the sex scene wasn't quite as juicy as promised but I'm working under a little bit of pressure and I was running out of time.  
  
Toodles.  
  
Sorry, but everyone else is going to have to wait until next chapter (when everyone will find out what the key is for) for their response because I really have no time. Also, I've decided to give review responses via e-mail for anyone who is interested. If you are, say so in your review.  
  
Thanks a heap,  
  
Ly 


	16. As The World Falls Down

Eternally Yours  
  
Chapter 16  
  
As The World Falls Down  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters.  
  
Author's Note:   
  
Well, hello again. I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me so far, I do plan to finish this eventually. Also, now that my computer is fixed (way to go Ray!) you can all look forward to both longer chapters and more frequent updates. I'm sorry for the cliff hanger last chapter, judging from the reviews that I received last week the majority of my readers seem to not like them. I'll try to cut back on the cliffies in the future. In this case however, I really feel that it was a good thing that I put in the cliffie. I've changed my mind a bit about where I want to go with this chapter, and needed some time to mull things over in my head. So, after a great deal of pacing at the end of the dock while I was camping over the 4th, this is what my over stressed brain has to offer.  
  
Other Recent Developments:   
  
I got my first flame review over the weekend as well, apparently I'm wasting my talents and Hermione and Severus pairings are just not right. But, since I have well over a hundred reviews saying otherwise I have decided to disregard this person's personal opinions on the matter. The only thing I really find wrong with the whole matter is that this review was posted for my fourth chapter, and I someone doesn't like Hermione Severus pairings why did they read it that far in the first place.  
  
Also, now that my computer is fixed, fans of My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star (my Remus and Sirius fic) and Rough Diamonds and Flighty Sparrows (my Pirates of the Caribbean fic) can look forward to some updates in the next week or so as well.  
  
If you want to earn some major brownie points you can follow my friend Sam's example and send me some cool fan art for my fic. Any drawings I receive will eventually be put on a web site and linked to my profile. So you can see all the pretty artwork. I have to make sure that it's ok with Sam before I put hers up there.  
  
Okay, that's all. I won't hold you up any longer so enjoy!  
  
Severus looked up, startled, and then gasped. Narcissa Malfoy was standing rather nonchalantly in his bedchamber. She wasn't looking up at him; she was busy straightening her dress. A stunning emerald muggle evening gown trimmed in silver that clung elegantly to her slender form. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back, pulled away from her face with silver barrettes inlaid with pearls. She clutched an emerald handbag that was trimmed in silver to match her dress and inlaid with more pearls.  
  
'Ek!' Severus exclaimed and threw a blanket over Hermione. 'Narcissa, what the hell are you doing here?'  
  
She looked up at him with a hurt look on her face. 'Whatever do you mean? It's the first Saturday of the month. You haven't forgotten about our plans? Why aren't you dressed?' She paused and studied the lump under the sheet that was Hermione. ' Severus. Who is that in your bed?'  
  
Severus gazed at her, speechless for a moment before he regained his composure. ' Narcissa, I am so sorry. I completely lost track of what day it was. Could you please go wait in the library and I'll be there in a moment.'  
  
'Severus Snape! You cancelled on me last month, and that's okay since you gave me plenty of warning. But, if you cancel on me now at the last minute, I'll castrate you! You don't realize what I have to go through to get out of that house to meet with you. I have to plan it weeks in advance you prat, and you are not skiving out on me again! I don't care who is in your bed, if you're not ready in ten minutes she (or is it a he, I always did take you as a wee bit lavender) will never have the opportunity again. Because you'll be a eunuch Severus, so help me God!' Narcissa glared daggers at him before storming out of the room.  
  
'Shit, Hermione! This is not good!' Severus huffed, throwing the blanket off of her.  
  
Hermione looked up at him in confusion. 'What was that all about? Was that Narcissa… Malfoy?'  
  
'Oh dear,' Severus moaned. 'This is going to take a great deal of explaining.'  
  
Hermione gaped at him. 'You're not sleeping with her are you?'  
  
A look of disgust came over Severus' face. 'Oh God no, Hermione! That would be like sleeping with my own sister.' He paused for a moment, thinking. Reader's Digest Condensed Version. 'Actually I think that she's my second cousin through marriage on my mother's side. The lineage of the old wizard families tends to get a bit muddled after a few hundred generations, especially when most of the lot only marry into other wizarding families. That's not important though. Narcissa and I have been very good friends ever since we were children.'  
  
At this point Severus got out of the bed and began changing into a black suit with silver pinstripes that he pulled from the closet. He slipped a severely cut white dress shirt on before continuing. 'You see, our fathers were very good friends and we both loathed our fathers, so it just followed that we became good friends. So when the point came and we felt the need to rebel against our families we decided to do the thing they would hate most of all, we decided to engross ourselves in muggle culture.'  
  
He finished buttoning his shirt and pulled his pant's up over his hips, not bothering with any underwear. 'We listened to the Beatles, read muggle magazines, ate muggle food, and went out to the cinema or the theatre on a regular basis. Narcissa took a particular liking to the sport of bowling, but I couldn't quite get the hang of it.' Hermione tried not to laugh as she imagined Severus in his wizard robes rolling a bright pink bowling ball down the lane with the splayed leg approach.  
  
Severus strapped his pants to his suspenders with a little bit of difficulty before continuing. 'Of course we hid all this from our parents, but it was the principle of the thing. I think that my parents were hoping for a marriage, but it wasn't like that between us, and her family eventually forced her into a marriage to Lucius Malfoy.'  
  
He slipped his jacket on and did one of the buttons. 'I thought she had gone back on everything we had believed in and consented to the marriage, so I wouldn't even read her letters for the longest time I just threw them into the fire. Well, eventually I did read the letters and I found out the real story behind what had happened.'  
  
Severus looked skeptically into the mirror, pulling his hair back. He put a black fedora with an emerald band on, and looked into the mirror once more, tucking his hair behind his ears. 'So anyway we eventually became friends again. So once a month Narcissa sneaks out of the house under Lucius' nose and we go out and indulge a bit. Tonight we're going to the theatre. We were supposed to go to dinner as well, but I'm pretty sure I can sneak out of that with my manhood still intact.'  
  
He grabbed a black cane that was topped with a large glass emerald and came to the side of the bed where Hermione sat looking at him with a stunned expression on her face. He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. 'Please forgive me, my love. Narcissa Malfoy is a force to be reckoned with when she's angry, and her wrath is about the last thing I need at the moment. I have a surprise for you when I get back; I'll explain more then. You can do whatever you want in the meantime, liberate my house elves, whatever makes you happy. I will try to hurry. Can you understand Hermione? Please?'  
  
'Of course,' Hermione smiled at him. He was talking rather fast but she was pretty sure she'd taken it all in.  
  
Severus was just about to leave when Hermione stopped him. 'Wait, Severus!'   
  
He spun around to look at her, slightly confused. 'Yes?'  
  
'Does that mean you're related to Sirius?'  
  
Severus grimaced, left the room, and closed the door behind him. He walked towards the library cursing under his breath, and swinging his cane at the paintings on the wall.  
  
Back in the bedroom Hermione had burred her face in the pillows in order to stifle her laughter at the look on Severus' face.  
  
Severus stormed into the library a moment later looking rather perturbed and still muttering under his breath.  
  
Narcissa looked up at him from a book she was looking at and then stood up, 'Ready now?' She smiled at him as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.   
  
'Yes, I suppose. But only to the theatre, I am going to have to cancel dinner.'  
  
'Fast food?' Narcissa asked hopefully.  
  
'Fine,' Severus sighed.   
  
'Great,' Narcissa said, smiling happily. 'I rented us a limo, but we're gong to have to apparate to it. I left it waiting in the parking lot at the mall. Like the new shoes?' She lifted up her dress a little to reveal silver high heal shoes with clear plastic straps.   
  
'Lovely,' Severus said absentmindedly, glancing out into the hall.  
  
Narcissa hit him with her handbag. 'You didn't even look.' She followed his glance out into the empty hallway. 'Incidentally, who was the girl in your bed? It was a girl wasn't it?'  
  
Severus sighed, 'Yes Narcissa, it was a girl. I'm not gay.' Nope not gay, he though wryly, just a pedophile.   
  
'Well who was it, someone I know?'  
  
'No.'  
  
'Another teacher?'  
  
'No.'  
  
'A muggle?'  
  
'No.'  
  
'A greasy haired potion master groupie?'  
  
'I wish'  
  
'Well, who then?' Narcissa searched his face. 'Not a student.'  
  
Severus looked guiltily down at his feet.  
  
'A student! Severus, that's repulsive!' Narcissa was looking at him in shock. 'What year is she in?'  
  
'Sixth,' Severus answered reluctantly.  
  
Narcissa shook her head at him. 'She is in Slytherin though, right?'  
  
Severus looked down at his feet again.  
  
'Ravenclaw?'  
  
Severus shook his head.  
  
'Hufflepuff?'  
  
Severus shook his head again.  
  
'Gryffindor! Severus, that's disgusting.'  
  
He looked up at her reluctantly. 'Oh, it's worse. She's one of Harry Potter's best friends.'  
  
Narcissa was dumbstruck. 'And she slept with you? Severus, you know it's against the law to drug innocent young girls and rape them don't you?'  
  
Severus frowned. "I didn't rape her Narcissa. I'm in love with her.'  
  
Narcissa raised her hands in the air. 'Enough of this! I need a drink!' She pulled out her wand. 'Come on, I have brandy waiting in the car.'  
  
They were in the back of the limo that Narcissa had rented, and she had poured each of them a glass of brandy.  
  
Severus leaned heavily back into his seat, his thoughts dwelling on Hermione.  
  
Narcissa raised her glass in a toast and Severus matched it with a little clink of crystal. 'Here's to Sev's lady then.' Narcissa lowered her glass a little, faltering for a moment. 'What was her name?'  
  
'Hermione Granger.' Severus answered, taking a sip of his brandy and practicing not making his little grimace.   
  
'Granger.' Narcissa bit her lip, mulling the name over in her mind. 'Hermione Granger. She's the one that Draco's always going on about. He's always talking about how much he loathes her because she's a mudblood and a girl and she's always besting him at everything despite it. It's gotten to the point where I just ignore him, but I'm pretty sure that he fancies her.'  
  
Severus felt a tinge of jealousy setting in and he took a gulp of his brandy, not even bothering to try hiding his grimace. 'Good to know.'  
  
'Yes.' Narcissa smiled at his apparent jealousy.  
  
'What's this play we're going to see again?' Severus asked, wanting to skip around the subject of Draco's feelings toward Hermione.  
  
'It's called a circus of tales.'  
  
'What is it about?'  
  
Narcissa looked at the playbill skeptically, turning it over in her hands. 'Um, too tell you the truth I haven't the foggiest. There are some muggles attached to strings flying in the picture, and someone dressed as Neil Diamond.'  
  
'Oh.'  
  
The play was quite good, and Severus found himself enjoying it in spite of the fact that his thoughts were constantly dwelling on Hermione. During the intermission Severus and Narcissa went outside to get some fresh air. Narcissa was giggling wildly spinning around in circles under a darkening sky, her dress flaring out around her and her shoes making little taps on the pavement.  
  
Severus was looking off into space, not really paying her much mind.  
  
Narcissa stopped twirling. 'What is it Severus?'  
  
'Nothing,' he muttered.  
  
'Bugger nothing. What is it?'  
  
Severus sighed. 'I was thinking about Hermione.'  
  
Narcissa's eyes filled with hurt. 'You want to go home.'  
  
'Yes,' he said, looking up at her. 'Well, no. Not exactly.'  
  
'Which is it then? Yes or no?'  
  
'No. I'm just worried that Hermione is furious with me, cursing under her breath and trying to figure out how best to… curse me, actually. Or worse, and she's crying to herself in a corner.' Severus sighed. 'Maybe I should just apparate over there and check on her.'  
  
Narcissa brightened. 'I think I can help.' She opened her handbag and began digging around inside of it. After a moment she pulled out a faintly glowing pink crystal shard.  
  
Severus' eyes widened as she pulled it out. 'You know that's illegal, right?'   
  
'You have met my husband, right?'  
  
'Just checking.'  
  
She gave him a lofty smirk and handed him the crystal shard. 'Just think about the person that you want to watch.'  
  
Severus grasped the crystal in his hand and thought about Hermione. He closed his eyes, picturing her in his mind: her long soft brown hair, her good-natured laugh, twinkling honey brown eyes, and a smile playing off her face.  
  
Severus opened his eyes and gazed upon Hermione's upturned face filling the crystal. He gazed fondly into her eyes for a moment before willing the crystal to pull out from her a little. He saw that she was sitting on the floor in the library surrounded by little towers of books that she'd pulled off the shelves. She was wearing his black silk robe, her sweat soaked hair was tucked back behind her ear away from her face. She had an old leather bound tome in her lap but she wasn't reading it, she was looking upward. It took Severus a moment to figure out where she was looking, but once he did he nearly smacked himself in the forehead. It was the stained glass window that his mother had designed. It was a huge window, forty feet long and another ten feet wide, spanning the entire length of the wall and picturing the nine muses at council with their father, and sometimes lover, Zeus. She was smiling.  
  
Severus smiled too and handed the crystal, which had begun to produce large amounts of heat, back to Narcissa who returned it to her purse. Severus smiled at her, thanking her without words, and headed back into the theatre.  
  
Hermione had become bored with the library, would someone please inform the press. Yes, that's right, Hermione was bored of books.   
  
In truth, Hermione herself didn't find this all that surprising. Severus' library didn't really have a whole lot of selection. She'd read the poetry for a while, but since she owned a copy of most of the books herself they didn't really hold her interest. She'd then moved on to the old tomes and ledgers, which she found very interesting, but she found her thoughts drifting back to Severus again and again.  
  
Finally Hermione resolved to give up on the library and go take a bath. She was feeling quite sweaty and sticky after the morning's activities, and she might as well look her best when Severus got home if she had Narcissa Malfoy to contend with.   
  
She sunk comfortably into the warm water in the tub, her head resting on a pillow of bubbles, and thought that maybe when she was finished she'd plan a little carpet picnic in the foyer in front of the fireplace.   
  
Severus and Narcissa giggled their way out of the theatre leaning on Sev's cane for support, and drawing a large amount of attention to themselves, all but crawling back into their black limousine. Once they'd shut the door the both managed to flop into their seats without laughing themselves to death.  
  
Narcissa managed to stop laughing once she looked at her watch. 'Oh dear, ten thirty already. I guess I'm going to have to let you cancel on dinner after all.'  
  
Severus raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
'Lucius is out having drinks with the minister, I think he's trying to bribe him into loosening the restrictions on class five non-tradable substances for wizards who have long standing relationship to the ministry or some such nonsense. Anyway, he thinks I'm at my sister Andromeda's for tea, but I can't justify being over there this late. Lucius can't stand Andromeda, but she's still my family so he let's me go anyway, she married a muggle and they have an auror for a daughter so…'  
  
'Sure,' Severus said. 'Nymphadora. She's a nice girl, though.'   
  
Narcissa looked at him skeptically. 'How do you know Nymphadora?'  
  
'Oh, um,' Severus faltered. He was just too sleepy to think up a good alibi at the moment. 'I don't quite remember where I met her, probably at the school.'  
  
Narcissa frowned at him, 'Oh.'  
  
'Yeah, well, I'd better get going, Severus said, digging his wand out of the inside pocket of his jacket.  
  
'Yes yes, by all means. Go shag your student.'  
  
With a pop he arrived back in his bedroom, his expression somewhere between a frown and a smile. Hermione wasn't in the room though; so he went out into the hallway and nearly stumbled over a pink candle right in the middle of the floor.  
  
Severus frowned at the candle malevolently until he saw a piece of his stationary folded under its base. He lifted the piece of paper, read it, and smiled. He dashed back into his room and found the package he'd hidden in his closet before following a trail of tastelessly pink candles down to the foyer.  
  
Hermione had conjured up quite an ambiance. More pink candles floated all around the room and she'd set up a little nest in the middle of the floor with a very soft pink blanket and piles of pink red and white pillows. Hermione herself sat in the midst of this wearing a clinging white silk nightgown and picking strawberry's off of a silver platter, which also held champagne, glasses, chocolate, and a bunch of grapes.  
  
Hermione looked up at him, smiling confidently, and he fell down beside her on the pillows.  
  
Hermione leaned over him, feeding him a strawberry, and gazing lovingly into his eyes. 'How was the show?'  
  
Severus swallowed his bite of strawberry, licking his lips contentedly. 'Very funny.'  
  
'Really? What was it about?'  
  
Severus smirked. 'There was a circus employee who was transfigured into a dog by a cursed book that tried to eat him and two old fat ladies. Then the dog was trying to have offspring but the biohazard faeries kept getting it wrong, so he had a chair and a grocery cart and an apple. Then Neil Diamond came and sang the princess asleep and father time came and killed him.' Severus was smiling, on the verge of breaking into giggles again.  
  
Hermione shook her head disbelievingly at him. 'Well it's about time isn't it? I take it you enjoyed yourself.'  
  
Severus' smile fell. 'It was pure agony, cause I wanted to be with you.'  
  
Hermione smiled at the sincereness in his voice, and kissed him gently on the bridge of his nose. 'I missed you too,' she sighed. 'I was trying to read, but I couldn't concentrate because I kept thinking about you.'  
  
'Well that's too bad,' Severus said, pulling the package out of his pocket. 'Because I have a surprise,' he finished, handing her the package.  
  
Hermione took it, looking up into his eyes questioningly.  
  
'Open it!'  
  
She looked at the box skeptically. It was long and thin, wrapped in green paper with silver ribbon. 'How very Slytherin of you,' she said and unwrapped it. Hermione lifted the lid off the box and pulled out a very familiar looking key. Trying to look at it as though she was examining it for the first time she read the inscription. 'Amor Vincit Omnia.'  
  
'It's Latin, it means love conquers all.' Severus took her hands into his and studied the key himself, but in a way he wasn't really looking at it at all.  
  
'I want you to understand what this key means before I tell you what it's for.' Severus said, pulling her against his chest. 'And in order for that to happen I'll have to tell you more about myself than I think I've ever told anyone else in my whole life.'  
  
There was great sadness in his voice, and Hermione held him close as he spoke, telling her the story of his child hood and what made him the way that he is.  
  
'I already told you that I hated my father, but I never told you why.' He paused for a moment, stringing his words together. 'My mother was the most beautiful, the most brave, and the most compassionate woman that I've ever encountered; save perhaps you, my love. I loved my mother more than anything, and he killed her.   
  
'My father was well into the dark arts, but more than that, he didn't desire power or greatness or knowledge that wasn't why he studied the dark arts, he was just plain evil. He would beat my mother or humiliate her to the most extreme degree imaginable.   
  
'My mother was the victim of an arranged marriage, but even then my grandfather knew that my father was insane. He thought that a woman could help curb that insanity and manipulate it so that it could be used to his advantage, but my grandfather was wrong. My mother's presence only seemed to make his condition worse. He never loved her, he only used her, and once I was born and old enough to care for myself he no longer had any use for her.'  
  
Severus seemed near to tears, and he clutched desperately to Hermione.   
  
'My father locked my mother in her rooms when I was seven and let her slowly die. I snick food to her, and water, and I would talk to her through the door when my father was away or asleep. But my mother died of a broken heart. She was a broken woman by then. She tried so hard to change him, to leave him, to love him, but it didn't change a thing. He killed her slowly and painfully without even feeling the tiniest hint of remorse.'  
  
Severus was now crying into Hermione's arms, and she felt so helpless to help him. She felt so sad for him just a scared child, and for his mother whom he so deeply loved, and such deep penetrating hatred for any man who could do such a thing.  
  
Severus looked up at her with tears running down his face and not the slightest tinge of embarrassment. 'I will never do anything like that to you ever, nor will I let anyone else harm a hair on your head. I will never stop loving you.' He held her to him wanting to repeat it over and over again. 'That's what the key means. The key to my mother's rooms, and the key to my heart. I love you Hermione, and love can conquer anything because it's greater than everything, even you and me. My love for you could crumble whole mountains and shift entire seas, defy heaven and hell, and burn the most powerful of demons to cinders. My love for you Hermione, could cross time itself.'  
  
He kissed her softly, and held her to him, never wanting to let go. He fell asleep with tears drying on his cheeks and his entire world wrapped in his arms.  
  
A.N: Geez, after an ending to a chapter like that I hate putting a note down here at all, but I have a few things to mention. I'll be brief though, it's 4:19 AM and I'm feeling a little sleep deprived.  
  
I want to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter and remind them that if the want a response via e-mail I'd be more than happy to write them a two page note but they need to tell me that they want one and leave their e-mail address (that goes double for you Kouga and Amanda) I'm not a mind reader folks. I don't really want to put long review responses at the end of my chapters anymore, it's just gotten to be too much. If you're uncomfortable with leaving your e-mail and really want I response I can make some exceptions, otherwise I'm just going to kindly thank everyone by pen name.   
  
Also, I'd like to remind you about the major brownie points for pretty pics, especially for that stained glass window, which I'm tempted to draw myself despite the early hour.  
  
Amara Tsu: No review again? That makes me sad, you're practically my I.R.  
  
Oh, and the title is the name of a song from Labyrinth. The one at the masquerade ball after Sarah eats the peach. And, A Circus of Tales is a play that I saw at the wonderful Theatre De Le June Lune, and it is actually about a cursed dog ex-circus employee who seeks help producing offspring from the biohazard faeries, at least in part.  
  
Anyway, boy am I long winded today, I guess that's all.  
  
Ly  
  
Thanks: Sarahamanda, Anarane Anwamane, Irina Derevko, Gaisha, Drunken Landlord, norry, Tigerchild, TheRealiz, Kouga'seagleforever, Aindel S. Druida, KeithUrbanFan, obsessed-w-snape, Anna Nanna, and momsangel.  
  
Also to hi: I do try to post weekly, but when I don't I usually post more than once the next week and I like to think that it evens out. 


	17. Matushka

Eternally Yours  
  
Chapter 17  
  
Matushka  
  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I do not.  
  
Author's Note: Well, I was all ready to update like three times last week, but then I got another flame on chapter 16, and I have writer's block. This one ranted a bit about how Sev was OOC and a little gay in capital letters. You know, bad reviews aren't so bad on occasion, but I much prefer constructive criticism in the proper letter case. I'd pretty much realized that Sev was a little out of character to begin with though. But isn't that one of the best parts about FanFiction, being able to take your favorite characters and put them into situations that the true creator would never put them in. I think that we all know that J.K. Rowling would never let Severus and Hermione fall in love, such a tragedy. If she did, you wouldn't be here because you could have the real thing instead the imitation that I'm peddling. The only thing is that now, with a flame apiece for my last two chapters and no review from Amara Tsu again, I'm getting a little paranoid. I'm not quite my pink fuzzy assed, pompous, self-assured self anymore. Do you think that my story is going in a negative direction? School is out, and I don't have Sam to keep me from writing anything horrible, maybe I'm slacking off.  
  
Anyway, here's your chapter.  
  
Hermione awoke snuggled next to Severus and blinked her eyes open. The fire had gone out some time during the night, but the side of her body that had lain closest to the hearth felt baked.   
  
Severus stirred next to her, nuzzling his face into her neck, and draping one arm possessively over her hips. 'I'm sorry.'  
  
Hermione turned to face him. 'For what?'  
  
'For throwing all of that on you last night. I'm not quite sure what got into me, it was supposed to be a present, not an excuse for me to…I just wanted you to understand what it meant to me.' Severus sighed.  
  
Hermione turned around to face him.  
  
He smiled at her, a slight smile that none-the-less lightened his features. 'Come with me, let me show you.'  
  
'I'd follow you into the jaws of Cerberus himself, and have, but could you let me brush my teeth first.'  
  
Severus sat up abruptly and gave her a quizzical look. 'What is it with you and brushing your teeth as soon as you open your eyes?'  
  
Hermione blushed. 'My parents are dentists.'  
  
Severus shrugged. 'Very well then, there's another bathroom in the hall. You can brush my teeth too.'  
  
Severus rose to his feet and extended a hand to Hermione, she took it and he pulled her up. Taking her hand, Severus led Hermione to the bathroom and waited silently as she brushed first her teeth and then his.   
  
Hermione transfigured their tooth brushed back into ceramic fish and leant in to kiss Severus. He met her lips and gave her a wet open-mouthed kiss, he pulled back after a moment in order to avoid a tightness in his pants.  
  
'Mmm minty,' Hermione said with a smirk before Severus took hold of her hand and pulled her out of the bathroom.  
  
Severus pulled Hermione through a maze of corridors before he finally stopped in front of an old door made of English oak with an ornate silver handle. Hermione thought that they were near the kitchens; she could smell bacon.  
  
Severus turned Hermione's key in the lock of the huge door and swung it open on creaking hinges.  
  
Hermione walked into the room and looked around in awe. She massaged the toes of her bare feet into the almost unbelievably soft gray shag carpet. A large oak four-poster bed, with lavender hangings and a gray comforter latticed with black lines, was in one corner of the room across from a fireplace.   
  
Severus strode across the room and drew open the lavender drapes revealing a view of the small lake at the back of the estate. Light flooded into the room and Hermione was momentarily blinded as her eyes adjusted and then she gasped.  
  
The walls were completely covered with a huge mural of the nine muses done primarily in shades of gray and lavender. The mural blended into the room, giving off a soothing effect. Hermione recognized the design from the window in the library. She looked up at Severus, 'Your mother was an artist?'  
  
Severus turned his back to the window and looked at Hermione. 'Yes, I suppose you could say that. She loved to paint in any case.' He gestured over to an easel cornered towards the window. It held an unfinished painting of a small boy with long black hair and a glass holding several paintbrushes. Several tubes of paint and palette full of dried paint sat on a nearby table. 'But here,' he took her hand, 'Come with me.'  
  
Severus led her hand to a bookcase and glided it along the books. They were all books on charms save for one. Severus brought Hermione's hand to a copy of A Tale of Two Cities and pulled the book off of the shelf, opening a pathway into a second room.   
  
Hermione followed him into the room and once more gasped. The room was full of books. It was smaller than the library upstairs, but Hermione would have guess that it held at least the same number of books if not more. Unable to control herself, Hermione rushed over to the nearest bookcase, pulling Severus with her.  
  
Severus wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist as she examined the books on the shelf. 'This is my gift to you Hermione.'  
  
Hermione turned and smiled at him sadly. 'Are you sure?'   
  
Severus nodded and pulled her against his chest. 'Quite sure. But let's go get some breakfast.'  
  
Hermione nodded and Severus led her out of the room closing and locking the door behind them. Severus handed the key back to Hermione. 'You can come back here whenever you want you can use the fireplace in my office to floo over. That's your place, use it as you see fit.'  
  
Hermione smiled up at Severus and took his hand, 'Thank you.'   
  
Severus nodded and led her up a staircase just to their right. He paused in front of a bookcase on the staircase's landing. Once more he led Hermione's hands over the books, stopping at another copy of A Tale of Two Cities and pulled out the book. Another passageway lined with torches that lit as they passed by, opened in the wall and Severus led Hermione up it. At the top the passage abruptly ended with a wall; in the center of the wall was another torch. Severus pulled down on the torch and the wall opened into the library. They stepped into the library and a bookcase slid closed behind them. Severus led Hermione's hand in the now familiar gesture to a copy of A Tale of Two Cities in the bookcase. He didn't bother to pull it out, instead he led Hermione out of the library and they went back to Severus' bedroom where breakfast was waiting.   
  
Hermione licked the last bit of bacon from her fingers and sighed. 'I don't want to go back to school Sev.'  
  
'Neither do I.' Severus took Hermione's plate and set it next to his on the empty breakfast tray on the floor, and sat back down on the bed next to her.   
  
Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. 'I don't know how I'm going to be able to stand a whole week without kissing you.'  
  
Severus kissed her sweetly on the lips and pulled away. 'Nonsense, you have a month worth of detentions to work off my dear, and I had a whole lot more than kissing in mind.'  
  
'Don't push your luck,' She kissed him again, deeper this time, 'Or I'll have to sic Harry on you.'   
  
Severus pulled abruptly back from her. 'You told Potter!'  
  
Hermione blushed, 'No, he just sort of figured it out on his own, he's far more clever than you give him credit for.'  
  
'Not as clever as you,' Severus purred, pulling her close again. ' Besides, I sort of told Dumbledore. He already knew what was going on of course, but I didn't lie to him.'  
  
Hermione kissed his throat. 'I already knew that.'  
  
'How?' he frowned, running his hand through her hair.  
  
'He convinced me to forgive you when we were finishing the potion.' She began unbuttoning his shirt.  
  
'Meddling old man.' Severus grumbled and pulled his shirt off over his head before Hermione could finish unbuttoning it.  
  
Author's Note: I'm sorry if that chapter was a little lacking, but I just wasn't feeling especially inspired. Damn flames!  
  
Thank you to all my grateful reviewers: Sarahamanda, danradcliffe6656, CaptainCrash, KeithUrbanFan, momsangel, hp-lover-fifi, jojo, Irina Derevko, Anarane Anwamane, Cat-of-the-Western-Lands, Faerluthio, Miranda, Kouga'seagleforever (I promise I will send you an e-mail, I'm just really busy at the moment), pixieballerina (what reference to Castaway? It wasn't a conscious reference and now I'm curious. I can't figure out what it is.) ButterflysFyre, ParvisSira, obsessed-w-snape, Genny79, Tigerchild, Aindel S. Druida, cool091688, and whAck. 


	18. Troblesome Weasels

Eternally Yours

Chapter 17

Troublesome Weasels

Authors Note: I'm warning you straight off that this is going to be a short chapter, but I figured that you guys wouldn't mind. I'll put another chapter up pretty soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Hermione was back at Hogwarts, desperately trying to finish all of Tuesday's homework so that she could go down to 'detention' with Severus.

'What's up?' Harry asked, plopping himself down on the chair next to Hermione.

Hermione's eyes flicked back and forth across the page of the book that she was reading. She didn't even look up at him, 'Trying to finish my homework.'

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. 'I can see that, but why the rush?'

'Detention,' she answered absently, scratching an answer down.

Harry frowned, 'What did you get a detention for?'

Hermione finally looked up at him, 'Don't you remember you little soiree out on the Quiddich pitch?'

'That was ages ago, and nobody else got a detention. Why are you all of the sudden getting one for it now?'

Hermione scratched down her last answer and closed her book. 'Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies.' She scooped all her books, papers, and quills into her bag, zipped it, and threw it over one shoulder.

'What does that mea... Oh! Hermione! That's so gross!' A pained look came over Harry's face.

Just then Ronald Weasley chose a very inopportune moment to arrive.

He looked at both of them in confusion, 'What's disgusting?'

Hermione shook her head, 'Nothing Ron. I'll see you later.' With that she practically skipped out of the room.

'Where's she going?' Ron asked.

'Detention,' Harry groaned.

'Well what's she so happy for if she's got detention?'

'Believe me, you don't want to know.'

Hermione found Severus in his office sitting on the couch with a book open in the crook of one arm.

'What are you reading Sev?' Hermione asked, plopping down on the couch next to him.

'Nothing important,' he said, flipping his book closed and catching her lips in his.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned over him so that they were both lying down.

Finally Severus broke away.

Hermione smiled contentedly, 'Two days is a long time.'

Severus smiled, 'You're telling me, I had to fight down the urge to jump you in the middle of class yesterday.'

'I'm sure that would have made class much more interesting.'

'My class wasn't interest...Mmm.'

Hermione had kissed him again, snaking her warm tongue into his mouth, she'd been about to relieve him of his shirt when he suddenly sat up.

'What is it?' Hermione asked, confused.

Severus stood up. 'Someone's at the door.'

Hermione stood now too, standing on her tippy toes in order to see over Severus' shoulder and into the other room.

Finally Severus sighed and Hermione stood normally, feeling rather relieved until he said, 'Draco, it's only you.'

Hermione slunk back behind Severus, trying to hide, which didn't work very well because Severus walked into the other room to see what Draco wanted. Hermione sighed and followed him, desperately trying to think up some lie about why she'd been lying on top of Severus in his office with her tongue in his mouth.

Severus was just about to wish Draco good luck at the Quiddich match on Friday and tell him to wipe the field with Potter's ass, when he remembered what Narcissa had told him about Draco's feelings for Hermione.

'What are you doing here Granger?' Draco asked scathingly, looking over Severus' shoulder.

That pretty much sealed it for Draco. 'THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUISNESS, MR. MALFOY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYWAY? YOU SHOULD BE BACK IN THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM, NOT WONDERING AIMLESSLY ABOUT THE DUNGEONS! I'M GOING TO PERSONALLY ESCORT YOU THERE RIGHT NOW!' Severus lurched forward and grabbed Draco by his robes.

Draco looked up at Severus with something short of malice. 'I have a letter for you from my mother. I don't know why her owl brought it to me, but...' Draco handed him an envelope.

Severus threw the envelope at Hermione and rushed out of the room with Draco twisted in his robes and struggling to keep up.

Hermione chuckled a bit and opened the note.

'Severus,

I sent this to Draco so that he could bring it to you himself. Was your little Gryffindor strumpet there? I hope so, he does so fancy her.

What do you want to....'

That was as far as Hermione got though, because just then Ronald Weasley showed up.

'What do you want?' She asked, frowning in confusion.

Ron looked at her suspiciously, 'I thought you had detention.'

'I do. Severus is just dealing with something in his,'

Ron cut her of. 'Severus?'

Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth.

Just then Severus, as if summoned by his own name, came waltzing into the room, his voice thick with innuendo. 'That takes care of that, darling, now we can get back to what we were doing before...' Severus broke off, spotting Ron.

Ron's face had gone pale, and his eyes widened as everything fell into place.


	19. Chassit My Basket

Eternally Yours

Chapter 19

Chassit My Basket

A.N: Odd, I finished Dark Tower yesterday, and I'm writing chapter 19. Spooky! Also, apparently I died yesterday when I stayed home from school, so I thought I should let all of you know that I'm a ghost now and I could move on at any moment. So don't get too attached to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters, nor do I own the number 19.

'No,' Ron whispered, his face still starkly white.

Hermione rushed over to him. 'Ron...I'

Ron backed away horrorstruck. 'No! It can't...Severus!'

Severus raised his wand, 'Obliv...' but Ron had already run from the room.

Hermione walked a few hesitant steps toward the door and then looked up at Severus. 'I have to go after him Sev. If he...I could get expelled.' She spoke in a quiet voice somewhere between a sob and a whisper.

Severus put his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. 'Don't worry about him; let him go. He'll go tell Potter, and Potter can deal with it. Dumbledore won't expel you; he already knows. What's the worst that could happen?'

'He'll run into McGonnagal first, or Hagrid, who'll come down here and rip you limb from limb before Dumbledore even knows what happened,' Hermione answered calmly enough.

Severus took a step back. 'You go talk to Ron then. I'm going to go hide in Dumbledore's office and let him know what's going on.'

They rushed out of the room together, heading in opposite directions.

Hermione finally caught up to Ron in the second floor corridor five minutes later.

'Ron! Wait! Stop!' Hermione jogged to catch up to him and grabbed his arm, but he just brushed her off and continued marching determinedly down the corridor.

'Leave me alone Hermione,' he muttered. 'I need some time by myself to think.'

Hermione stopped and stared at the back of his head. 'Think about what, Ron? It's my choice and there's nothing for you to think about. Why do you have such a problem with this?'

Ron spun around, bearing down on her, his face a ruddy globe above his tie. 'DID YOU DO IT FOR THEGRADES, HERMIONE? WAS HE GOING TO FAIL YOU, SO YOU JUST DECIDED TO SAY 'HEY PROFFESOR SNAPE, IF YOU GIVE ME AN A I'LL SLEEP WITH YOU?' ARE YOUR GRADES THAT IMPORTANT HERMIONE?'

Hermione gave heated glare. 'Would you please keep your voice down Ron! I already told you that it's my business. And, just so you know, this has absolutely nothing to do with my grades.'

'COULDN'T HURT THOUGH, COULD IT?' Ron shouted at her, his whole body trembling.

'Ron, please,' She gave him a pleading look.

Ron huffed out of his nose, but calmed down a little. 'What is it then, if it's not grades? Are you just attracted to greasy old deatheaters who have it out for your best friends? Or is he drugging you? I wouldn't put it past him Hermione!'

Hermione sighed. 'No Ron, he's not slipping me love potions, and he doesn't have it out for you and Harry. Would you just calm down for a minute.'

But Ron was calming down, and the color was fading from his cheeks. 'Explain it to me then Hermione. What's going on? And why haven't you told me and Harry?'

Hermione swallowed, 'I think I love him; it's hard to explain how this all came about, but it's okay. Harry already knows anyway, and he understands that it's my business who I want to have relationships.'

Ron was flabbergasted, 'You told Harry but you didn't tell me?'

'Well, I knew that this was how you would react; you always get so involved whenever I'm dating someone new. Like with Viktor. You never got angry when Harry started dating Cho Chang, why is it such a big difference with me?'

But Ron was slowly turning Red again, 'Well Harry never dates Durmstrang house champions or slimy Slytherin scum, does he?' Ron was shaking again, and tears were running down his cheeks. 'And I'm not very well in love with Harry either!' Ron turned around and started running off down the hallway, calling back to her. 'I JUST NEED SOME TIME ALONE TO THINK!'

Hermione slid down the wall that she was leaning against, and sat down on the floor in shock. She hadn't expected that.

Just then Severus and Dumbledore rushed up.

Severus dropped to the floor next to Hermione, and leaned over her. He pulled her hair back away from his face, and when he saw she was crying it nearly broke his heart. Kissing her forehead, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to her feet.

Hermione looked up at him, managing a weak smile, then turned to Dumbledore.

'I'm sorr...' She started but he interrupted her.

'Don't worry about it Hermione,' he smiled at her somberly. 'We hear everything, and Severus and I will take care of it, with a little help from Harry Potter I warrant. And if we can't convince him to accept your decision and be happy about it, we'll modify his memory.' Now Dumbledore smiled with genuine glee in his eyes.

Hermione nodded and turned back to Severus, who took her into his arms once more.

To this Dumbledore turned around and began examining a tapestry on the wall. Proclaiming in a loud voice, 'You know Severus, I don't think I've ever seen this tapestry before. I wonder who did it. Was it that Pacha woman? You must know Hermione.'

Severus kissed her and ran a hand down her cheek. He pulled on the black ribbon tied around her neck, extracting the key from beneath her robes. With his other hand he removed her hand from his neck and wrapped it around the key. Finally, he broke his lips away from hers and whispered in her ear, 'Use the fire in my office. Go lie down and try to take a nap. I'll take care of this and then I'll come get you.'

Hermione nodded, wrapped her free hand around a lock of his hair, and kissed him one last time before heading down to his office.

Dumbledore turned to Severus, gave him a brief nod signaling his approval, and they headed towards Gryffindor tower together.

Once Hermione had flooed over to Snape Manor she headed towards Severus' room instead of taking the other passage which would lead her down to the door which her key would open. She entered Severus' room and took his bathrobe from the chair in the corner. She bundled it up and held it against her cheek, breathing in his smoky aromatic scent. Then she folded it under her arm and headed to the library.

She took the passageway from the library down to her doorway and had just turned her key in the lock when she noticed something that she hadn't before. Written above the old English oak door in ornate silver letters was a single word.

'Chassit,' Hermione said aloud, frowning. More Latin? Somehow she didn't think so.

Still frowning, Hermione turned the handle and went inside.

After a quick trip to her personal library, where she was able to find a copy of _A Tale of Two Cities _that didn't lead into any secret passageways, she bundled up in Severus' robe and lay down on the bed. But, she couldn't quite get comfortable. The bed was far better than the one she had at home, and maybe even a tad better than the ones at Hogwarts, but the pillows were horrible.

Hermione stood up with a groan and made to fluff the pillow when her hand encountered something solid. Hermione removed the pillowcase and another book fell out onto the floor. Hermione knelt to pick it up and noticed that it was a journal. The cover bore Severus' mother's name, Amalthia Deviro Snape, and that single word, 'Chassit.'

A.N. Yeah, well there you go then. I'm going to thank everyone by name, and I promise to do review responses sometime in the near future.

Thanks:

Sarahamanda, Anarane Anwamane, CaptainCrash, Kouga'seagleforever(and Amanda too), Terreis, Midnight Owl Miranda, RoseCellist, momsangel, spikefan, Aindel S. Druida, Alana, RoseDust, pixieballerina (thank you by the way, for telling me where the Castaway reference was), BeatlesLover(and yes, I too love the Beatles), MeredithHaze, LynneElf, minute, Jojo, mdemanatee,ArtemisMoonClaw, XxRoswellchicaxX, RavenclawGirl714, Genny79,Dark-M-Fairy, danradcliffe6656, hahaha-evil, hp-lover-fifi, Elizabeth Tears, mysticdarkraven, blackdragonofdeath13, Faye6, Cherry 7-up, Kathryn, 'Mione7, and chocheryl.

Also, special thanks to TheRealiz, who I forgot to thank last time.


	20. Modern Love

Eternally Yours

Chapter Twenty

Modern Love

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Modern Love is a song courtesy of Mr. David Bowie.

Severus arrived in his mother's old room, nearly two hours after Hermione had left his arms, to find her curled up on the bed, wearing only his bathrobe, sound asleep. Severus removed his robes and climbed into bed next to her, wrapping one arm protectively around her waist. He'd nearly fallen asleep when Hermione called him out of his stupor.

'Severus?'

'Yes.'

'Why aren't you wearing any clothes?'

'Because you're wearing my bathrobe,' he mumbled.

She leaned back into him and pulled the robe's collar up around her neck. 'It smells like you.'

'I'll wash it,' he replied sleepily.

Hermione smiled, buried her face in the pillows, and fell silent.

Several minutes later, Severus was once more called out of the warm cusp of sleep by Hermione's soft prodding voice.

'Severus?'

'Yes.'

'Aren't you cold?'

Severus tightened his grip around her waist. 'You're warm.'

Hermione turned around to face him and pressed her body against his.

Severus smiled contentedly and wrapped his arms more tightly around her.

'Better?' She asked, closing her eyes.

'Better,' he answered, kissing her forehead. 'Now sleep.'

When Hermione woke up again Severus was gone. She got out of bed and stretched, straightening Severus' bathrobe around her, and looked around the room for some answer as to where he had gone. Remarkably, she found an answer, as there was the unmistakable rattle of an owl at the window. She flipped open the casement and let one of the schools large barn owls into the room. She took the letter that it proffered and the owl flew off.

She opened the silver envelope to find a piece of Severus' green stationary covered with his writing in silver ink:

Hermione,

Get dressed; I've had the House Elves launder your

clothes they should be in a basket outside the door. If you're

hungry grab some breakfast. Otherwise, use the fireplace to

floo directly to Dumbledore's office. I have Professor Flitwick

watching my class, so don't use the fireplace in my office.

Don't worry about classes; Dumbledore has talked to all

of your teachers and you're excused. Just try to get over here as

soon as possible.

I love you,

Severus

Hermione folded up the letter, frowning, and threw it onto the end of the bed. She found her clothes, washed and neatly folded, in a small wicker basket outside the door. She got dressed quickly, raked her fingers through her hair, and made her way to the fireplace in a kind of solemn haste. By the time that she threw floo powder inside the fireplace and stepped inside her heart was pounding in her throat; it continued pounding rapidly all the while she was spinning through the fire until she resurfaced into Dumbledore's office and found herself in Severus' arms.

'Are you okay?' Severus asked with a frown

Hermione nodded, breathing deeply. 'Yeah, I don't know what came over me. Would you care to explain what's going on?'

Severus led her over to one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, watching her uneasily.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, was all business. He cleared his throat and Hermione turned her attention to him. 'Early this morning Severus was called to a death eater meeting by Lord Voldemort, and the time has come to bring him the potion.'

Severus turned to Hermione and took her hands into his. 'Hermione, do you understand what that means?'

Hermione nodded, 'Yeah Sev. I understand.'

'In all probability this potion won't work at all,' Dumbledore said gravely. 'The possibility has been considered and the odds aren't exactly good. If the potion does work Severus' cover will be blown, but hopefully that won't matter once Voldemort's power is gone.'

Hermione nodded. 'I know what it means,' she turned to Severus, 'it means you might not be coming back.'

Severus' eyes looked sad, and he twitched his mouth into a weak smile with a great deal of difficulty. 'Don't worry Hermione, I'll come back.'

Hermione lowered her eyes to the floor. 'When are you leaving?'

Severus wrapped a hand around each of her forearms and turned her to face him. Slowly, she brought her eyes up to meet his. Severus spoke slowly, holding her with his gaze. 'I have to go now, or The Dark Lord will suspect something, but I'll be back in your arms tonight and this will all be over; I promise.'

Tears were flowing steadily down Hermione's face as Severus pulled her up into his arms. 'Be careful,' she whispered. She didn't even feel him kiss her as she fell back into the chair and watched him floo out of the room.

It was several minutes later before she could register or feel anything other than the sickening feeling in her stomach, and then she burst into tears.

'Are you going to be all right Hermione?' Dumbledore asked her softly.

Hermione nodded slowly, wiping the tears out of her eyes. 'I think I'll just go lay down in my room.'

'I think that would be best,' Dumbledore agreed. 'Would you like me to walk you to Gryffindor tower?'

'No,' Hermione said firmly. 'I'll go by myself.'

'Alright,' Dumbledore nodded.

Hermione gathered herself together and left the room through the gargoyles passage.

When Hermione reached Gryffindor tower she wished that she had let Dumbledore walk her there; she felt weak now that Severus was gone. She felt uneasy and she longed for the ease of sleep. But, there was something between her current position and the sweet embrace of her four poster bed, and he had red hair and freckles.

The morning's events had wiped Ronald Weasley straight from her memory, but now the previous night's events returned in painful clarity; He'd said that he loved her.

'Look Ron, I…' but she was at a loss for words.

Ron shrugged, 'Don't bother Hermione, your lover put it all into sharp perspective last night during our little conversation.' Ron gave an uncontrollable shudder as he remembered the aforementioned conversation.

Severus leaned over Ron, his lanky hair hanging in the boy's face.

'Get away from me you filthy bastard,' Ron said in a scathing whisper.

Severus sneered at him. 'That seems a bit rich of you Weasley, considering the squalor that you live in.'

'Least I don't have to drug girls with love potions to get them to sleep with me, and I can get girls my own age,' Ron shot back.

'Since when do you date girls Weasley, you virginal little prat?' Severus scoffed.

Ron just gaped at him.

Severus smirked, but then he frowned as he remembered that he was supposed to be trying to convince Ron to support Hermione not having a row with the boy, even if he was winning. 'Look Weasley,' Severus grimaced, 'Ron. I don't like you, and I know you don't like me, but Hermione does like you, and apparently you're in love with her, so I think that it would be a good idea for the two of us to get along. It just so happens that I really do love Hermione, God help me, so you're just going to have to get used to it; why not make the best of it by not making a nuisance of yourself? Do you understand Weasley?'

Ron nodded, open hatred in his eyes.

'Good,' Severus said and straightened up. 'Now I suggest you go to bed before I have to give you a detention for wandering around the school after hours. If you tell anyone about this you'll be looking forward to a lot more than just a few detentions. Oh, and if you ever lay a hand on my girlfriend I'll be forced to castrate you.'

Ron sneered, 'Your girlfriend?'

'Yes, my girlfriend,' Severus affirmed. 'Although, I think the term in that particular sentence that you should have your attention on is castration. Have a nice night Weasley, and I suggest you refrain from actively thinking about my girlfriend as well if you want to keep your manhood intact.'

With that Severus left Ron alone in the empty classroom where he had brought the boy to have their little chat.

Ron gave another involuntary shudder and forced himself to continue the conversation that he'd rehearsed so many times in his mind already. 'My point is, Hermione, I really am in love with you, but if you don't feel the same way I'm more than willing to wait.'

Hermione gave him a forced smile. 'Thanks Ron, that really means a lot, but do you mind if we continue this conversation later? I was just on my way to bed.'

Ron looked at her in confusion. 'It's not even noon yet.' His initial thought, which in many ways would be the harbinger of sleepless nights to come, was that she was tired from having sex with Snape all night long, but that thought was soon wiped from Ron's mind when he saw the tears running down Hermione's cheeks. 'Why are you crying Hermione?' Ron asked in concern before his face darkened into an expression of malice. 'What did he do to you?'

'Don't be ridiculous Ron, Severus hasn't done anything. I'm just being a little overemotional right now; you know, P.M.S.' She managed a weak smile. 'I think I'll just go take a nap.'

'Oh,' Ron said, his face matching his hair. 'Yeah, I'll talk to you later, when you're feeling better.'

Hermione left Ron in his state of general embarrassment and made her way up to the girl's dormitory. She didn't know why she'd lied to Ron. It was just that she'd kept him out of the loop for months already and now didn't feel like the right time to clue him in. She suddenly felt so tired.

A.N: I know this isn't much of a chapter after not updating in such a long time, but give me a chance to get back into the story. The reason I haven't updated in so long is because I've been really flowing on my novel, and a girl has to have her priorities, you know. But I have writer' block on the novel right now, so I should be able to get a couple more chapters up on this. I don't think that it really has too many chapters to go; I think I was aiming for 25, and that's starting to sound about right.

I really want to thank any of my readers who are still with me despite the infrequent attention.


	21. The Man Who Sold The World

Eternally Yours

Chapter Twenty-one

The Man Who Sold The World

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and related characters.

Severus Snape apparated into the drawing room of Riddle Manor, holding a goblet of potion in one hand and feeling very uneasy. He took a deep breath, steadying himself, and strode confidently toward the Dark Lord's inner chambers. He was pacing steadily down the hallway to the door of the Dark Lord's study when Lucius Malfoy suddenly apparated and began walking next to him without missing a step.

'Hello Severus,' Lucius said in a manipulative voice.

'Lucius,' Severus said with a curt nod of his head.

Lucius pursed his lips together and then set hand on Severus' arm, pulling him to an abrupt stop. Severus did stop, and turned fluidly on his heels to face Lucius. The look on Lucius' face would have instilled fear into the hearts of even the bravest men. Severus, however, was not at all intimidated; he was running on pure adrenaline and met Lucius' gaze with his own.

'I know that you're sleeping with my wife,' Lucius said evenly, his eyes blazing.

Sirius just gaped at him, but didn't bother to protest; there was something more in Lucius' eyes. Severus watched him silently, waiting to see where he was going.

'I could kill you for it you know,' Lucius said in an almost playful tone. 'But that really wouldn't get me anywhere, so I've decided to use this to my advantage.'

Severus regarded him. 'And I suppose that it wouldn't do any good to tell you that I'm not sleeping with your wife.'

'I think we both know better than that.'

'I see,' Severus said pensively. He ran a hand through his hair. It was getting greasy; he'd have to wash it. 'Then, exactly what do you want from me?'

Lucius gave a sly smile and leaned in towards Severus. 'You can start by giving me that potion,' he brushed his lips against Severus' cheekbone, 'and I'll see you tonight.'

Severus watched Lucius straighten up, and let him take the goblet from his hands, an expression of wry amusement on his face. 'You mean to curry favor with the dark lord by crediting the potion to yourself.'

Lucius nodded slowly. 'And discrediting you for not completing it of course. Then I mean to repay the favor that you so kindly did my wife.'

Severus shifted his eyes to the goblet and mulled everything over in his head. If the potion didn't work he would have a lot of explaining to do, the dark lord would want to know why he had delegated his responsibilities to a less qualified death eater. He'd also have Lucius to deal with, and that wasn't really something he wanted to think about. On the other hand, if the potion did work he would take care of two birds with one stone. He'd let Lucius take the blame for depriving the dark lord of all his powers, thus eliminating the problem of Lucius' unwanted, not to mention ungainly, advances as well as saving his own ass, in more ways than one.

Severus weighed his options in the few seconds that he was afforded and then he told Lucius quite collectedly, 'I guess I'll see you tonight then.'

A thin smile spread across Lucius' lips. 'I look forward to it, perhaps we should have that mud-blood of yours tape it with one of those muggle recording devices; I'd love to see the look on Narcissa's face when I have you pinned to the mattress and begging for more.' Lucius brought his hand up to Severus' stunned face.

Severus composed himself, 'How is it that you know I'm sleeping with the mud-blood?' He heard his voice falter at that last word, and it hurt his heart to say, but things would be worse for Hermione if he used her name. Lucius had to think that his interest in Hermione amounted to no more than a casual malevolence.

'Oh you can't expect Draco to see you shagging Harry Potter's mud-blood girlfriend and not let me know about it; using him for correspondence with love letters to my wife might not have been your greatest idea either. I have to admit that I admire your gall though, sleeping with that annoying little mud-blood right under Dumbledore's nose. The only thing better would be fucking Potter himself. I wonder how much like his father he would be. James was always a little quick on the draw but ready for another round, if you catch my drift. Of course, before Harry was born I was almost sure that the kid was going to come out blonde. I slept with his mother almost exactly nine months before he was born; I always did make a pretty good polyjuice potion. I had no idea that they were trying to conceive. Of course, seeing the kid, there's no doubt that he's James' son. A little polyjuice potion and I could have him as easily as you had his girlfriend, but I would want him to know it was me.'

Lucius fondled a lock of Severus' hair absently for a moment. 'Though I really don't suppose there's any need to involve your other whore, as long as you're willing to cooperate. We could always just lash Narcissa to the end of the bed. Yes, I like that better. I perform better with a live audience.'

'As interesting as your sexual exploits are Lucius. I have a class to teach; one with your charming son in it, as a matter of fact. Since you're taking my potion to the dark lord, there's really no cause for me to be here, so I bid you farewell. We'll deal with the specifics of our new arrangement tonight then, shall we?'

The grin that had spread over Lucius' face fell into that thin smile again. 'Fine,' he said with a curt nod.

Without another word Severus disapperated, leaving Lucius alone with the potion that might contain his doom.


	22. A Flip of the Coin

A.N. I'll be amazed if anyone who started out with me is still holding a torch for this story, but if you are this one's for you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Eternally Yours

Chapter 22

A Flip of the Coin

It was a quarter after noon and Hermione was emotionally exhausted. She'd finally made it to her quiet room and warm bed, but her restless mind and the thought of Severus in danger kept sleep at bay. Finally, after tossing and turning in her bedclothes for what seemed like hours but really amounted to mere minutes, she got out of bed and blinked any traces of sleep from her eyes.

She strode to the window and looked out over the grounds. The sky was overcast and ominous; the face of the lake was like glass, milky with the reflected sky. A flock of ravens winged silently across the grounds, through the still air. The whole scene before her gave Hermione a distinct feeling of unease.

Hermione shivered and moved back away from the casement. Her eyes scanned the room as she moved back toward the bed; they fell on her book bag and triggered something inside her.

She lifted the bag off the end of her bed and pulled the drawstring open. Severus' bathrobe was the first thing to hit the mattress, and she gathered it up at once. She breathed in Severus' scent and slipped the robe on, almost managing a smile. Having Severus' robe wrapped around her made him seem safe and close. How could he possibly be in danger when she could smell him and almost feel his arms wrapped around her?

Hermione gathered up her other belongings; bottles of ink, parchment, and quills. She shoved them back into the bottom of her bag carelessly and almost didn't notice the small leather-bound book as she lifted it off her bed and made to stuff it in the bag. It was the neat silver lettering on the cover that caught her attention; Amalthia Deviro Snape. It was Severus' mother's journal. Hermione didn't even remember putting it in her bag.

Hermione slumped back onto her bed and opened the book. An odd feeling was making itself apparent in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't sure if it was just worry over Severus or a solemn knowledge that the words she was about to read were written by a dead woman.

Severus apparated back behind The Three Broomsticks. His pulse was hammering in his head. He couldn't believe his luck. Not only had he managed to be conveniently absent when the Dark Lord drank a potion that might bring about his fall from power, Lucius Malfoy would take the fall for him.

And to think that, moments ago, he had been hoping that the potion would fail. Before he'd fallen in love with Hermione his life had seemed a paltry sum to pay for the Dark Lord's demise. Now, after his relationship with Hermione had bloomed seemingly out of nowhere, he put a little more value on his life. If the potion had worked with him in evidence he'd likely end his life on the receiving end of a death curse. He was more than happy to let Lucius Malfoy take his place.

Lucius entered the Dark Lord's chambers soundlessly and closed the door behind him. He was feeling confident after his run-in with Snape, almost cocky: a dangerous state to be in around the Dark Lord.

"My Lord," Lucius bowed elegantly.

"Lucius. What are you doing here?"

"I've brought your potion, my lord," he said, proffering the goblet.

Voldemort took the goblet in one pale white hand. "Where's Severus?"

Lucius bowed his head to hide the smile that played across his lips. "I do not know, my lord. I have brewed your potion myself at his request, but am ill informed of his affairs."

Voldemort held the goblet to the candlelight and turned it in his hand. The light reflected off the amber liquid. "You're proving your worth Lucius. Perhaps soon you will be in a position to delegate your responsibilities to Severus in return."

The Dark Lord gave the potion one last approving inspection. The dark ruby ring on his forefinger glittered in the candlelight as the Dark Lord drank the entire contents of the goblet in one long gulp.

Hermione was enthralled with the diary, almost enough to occasionally forget just how much danger Severus was in. Amalthia was a mere seventeen when she was forced into a marriage she did not want with a man twice her age. The diary was a wedding gift, and within its pages she spoke of a great deal of apprehension surrounding her new husband, who was prone to outbursts of rage.

She wrote of her worries over the outcome of her pregnancy. She was afraid that she would give birth to a daughter and incur her husband's wrath, but not nearly so frightened as she was to bear a son and ensure an heir to the Snape legacy. Not only would this remove her usefulness, it would also give her husband a protégé to groom in his own image.

Amalthia's diary revealed a very frightened young woman with little to find solace in.

Severus Snape burst through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room, panting from his run across the grounds. He parted the awestruck students like the red sea.

He hurried up the staircase into the girl's dormitory, dispensing the protection spell with a quick flick of his wand. That particular charm he'd picked up from an older student in his fifth year. He may have been hook-nosed and pizza-faced, but he was in Slytherin where a decent (or preferably not so decent) family name was all you needed to uncross your fair share of legs.

All such things forgotten as he burst through the door into Hermione's dormitory.

Hermione looked at him, startled, and let out a sigh. She sounded both relieved and disappointed.

"The potion didn't work," she said, getting to her feet.

Severus grinned and shook his head. "I have no idea. Lucius took the goblet from me; he wants to take credit. He blackmailed me into it because he thinks I'm sleeping with his wife." He didn't tell her the other thing.

Hermione grinned, wrapping her arms around Severus. "I was so worried," she whispered into his hair. "Is the potion going to work?"

Severus shook his head, a great deluge of possible outcomes were whirring around his brain. "I don't know."

Lucius was panicking. He'd locked himself in the Dark Lord's office. Voldemort himself was gibbering in a corner.

Something had happened with the potion and Lucius was trying to figure out exactly what it was and whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. He could only stay locked in this office for so long before the other death eaters discovered what was going on.

And what was Severus playing at? What was in that goblet? There was too much happening; Lucius need to make a move.

Lucius glanced over at the Dark Lord again, babbling unintelligibly over in the corner, and took his wand off the desk.

Really there were only two choices: either let the death eaters in and tell them the truth or kill the Dark Lord and take over. Either way he still had Severus to deal with, but that would be easy, enjoyable even.

In the end it wasn't much of a choice at all. He held his wand out before him and advanced on his master.

A.N.

Well that's it then. I sort of stopped writing this after Half Blood Prince came out for obvious reasons, but I figured I might as well finish it up before the new book comes out. It's almost finished now anyway.

I just want to thank anyone who's still with me again. I'm a horrible person, but thanks for your patience (or at least lack of outright threats.)


	23. Raw Power

Authors Note: I don't know if this story's going well anymore. There's only two more chapters after this, maybe an epilogue.

Disclaimer: Yeah, still don't own Harry Potter. Raw Power is a song courtesy of Iggy Pop; way to go Jim!

Eternally Yours

Chapter 23

Raw Power

Severus and Hermione sat in Dumbledore's office. Hermione was in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. Severus paced back and forth in front of the door, rubbing his burning arm. Dumbledore was in the adjoining room, talking heatedly with the minister of magic behind a half closed door.

Hermione glanced back at Severus uncomfortably. "Would you please sit down?"

Severus grunted, but did as he was told; he wasn't in a mood to argue.

There was a slam as Fudge stormed through the door in a huff. He straightened the collars of his robes and gave Severus and Hermione a cursory glance.

"I don't know what he expects me to do," he muttered as he left up the stone passage. "My hands are tied."

Hermione and Severus exchanged a glance; this did not bode well.

Dumbledore returned from the other room and reseated himself behind his desk. He shook his head solemnly, thick silver beard swaying back and forth. He sighed and steepled his fingers on the desk in front of him.

"The Minister refuses to send Aurors in until we have an idea of what it is we're sending them into. I can't say I really blame him, Severus."

Severus hung his head. "You're sending me back in."

Dumbledore sighed and closed his eyes. "I have no choice."

Hermione felt tears stinging in the corner of her eyes, and tried to let rationality take over. "Couldn't we wait: hold off until we have more information? If Severus' dark mark is burning it either means that Voldemort is still in power or that the death eaters have a new leader. Either way, it won't be long until some action on their part reveals which."

"Hermione," Severus said gently, taking her by the hand. "Dumbledore's right; I need to go back. If Voldemort's magic is intact I'll need to try to explain my way back into his good graces; if not, I'll have to curry favor with his replacement. The Order needs to have a spy in Voldemort's ranks; we cannot afford to be unaware of his plans." The prospect that Voldemort was human enough to die made it easier to say his name, especially around Hermione and Dumbledore, who never seemed to quibble with titles.

"But if the potion worked there's no way to know what you'd be walking into. If Lucius Malfoy is still alive he'll have told the other death eater's that you're the one that gave him the potion. They'll be after your head." Hermione was desperate to find some rational reason to make him stay, but the argument sounded weak even to herself.

"Which unfortunately, doesn't change my task any." Severus squeezed her hand. "The Order needs its spy, Hermione. There's no one else."

He got to his feet, gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, and headed for the door.

"What will you tell them?" Hermione asked just as Severus reached the door.

"Oh, I'll think of something," Severus smirked. "Don't you know liars make good spies?"

"Now, Lucius," Severus started, after having apparated beside Voldemort's desk, "I thought that we had any appointment. But, all of a sudden my dark mark starts burning, so I show up here, and see all the trouble you've caused."

Lucius turned to him calmly, wand gripped his hand. "Severus, I'm willing to give you the chance to explain," he said, slowly, "but it had better be good."

Severus grinned at him and sat on the corner of the desk. "You don't honestly think I was just going to let you blackmail me into sleeping with you, do you? You wife is a slut Lucius; she's not worth it."

Lucius frowned and gave Severus a disbelieving look. "Granted, but you're going to have to do better than that."

Severus affected indifference. "I didn't actually think my little potion was going to work, or I wouldn't have given it to you. There's no point in planning an overthrow unless you can reap the benefits." Severus stuck his tongue in his cheek. "I guess I really am just _that _good though. Lucky for you; you seem to be getting quite comfortable." Severus ran his hand across the top of Voldemort's desk. "Feeling powerful behind this nice big desk? You should thank me. Imagine how I'm kicking myself now. The only reason I gave you my potion was because I figured it would get you in trouble; earn you the reaming you'd intended for me, as it were."

"If that was your plan it seems to have back fired."

Severus shrugged. "Not necessarily. You're no Voldemort. If I can incapacitate him without getting my hands dirty. I don't see why I'd have any trouble with you."

Lucius, a man of action rather than thought, pressed the tip of his wand to Severus' throat. "Or I could kill you now and not have to worry about it."

"That would be a mistake."

"And why is that?"

Severus looked at him steadily. "Well, if you kill me now you'll never have another chance at blackmailing your way into my pants. Oh, and I know something you don't know," he added in a sing song voice.

Lucius lessened the pressure to Severus' neck. "Tell me then, if it's good maybe I won't kill you."

"What was it now? You're going to have to do better than that?" Severus brushed Lucius' wand away. "I want to be your partner."

"What?" Lucius lowered his wand.

"I'm sick of being an underling. I see no reason that we can't share power. I mean, be honest Lucius, there's no way you're powerful enough to take power on your own. There will be upheaval any time now. As soon as the Death Eaters have enough time to work it out you'll have any number of rivals to contend with." Severus leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Together however, we're unstoppable."

Lucius licked his lips. "You could persuade me."

Severus pulled back. "No Lucius." He got to his feet. "By not letting you kill me and agreeing to share power, I am doing you a favor. I'm saving you from certain death in a couple hours when Nott and Macnair, not to mention your dear sister-in-law, decide that they'd rather kill you than take orders from you. Crabbe and Goyle might be able to protect you , but they've always been a little slow on the draw, and are you really ready to trust them with your life. You need an ally." Severus glanced around the room for the first time. "What did you do with Voldemort, by the way? I assume that you killed him."

"Wormtail's dealing with it." Lucius was frowning, trying to work out the best way to get the upper hand.

Severus didn't give him time. "Look, just take care of any dissenters. I have a class to teach."

"You're going back to Hogwarts?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Of course. I'll have to tell Dumbledore something. He'll want to know what the Dark Lord is up to, and we want Dumbledore to think that Voldemort is alive and well."

With that, Severus disapparated, leaving Lucius alone.

Hermione was in the great hall, poking dispassionately at her lunch.

Harry looked up at her. Hours ago she'd been positively ecstatic, now she was being glum again. She hadn't mentioned anything after Snape had barged into the Gryffindor common room, and Harry hadn't pried. But now there was something wrong and Harry felt on obligation, as Hermione's friend to ask the obvious question.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Ron asked, through a mouthful of food, beating Harry to it.

Hermione sighed, setting her fork down. "Can't you swallow before you talk Ron? That's really disgusting."

Ron turned red, swallowing his food before continuing. "Sorry. What's up?"

"Dumbledore thinks that the potion worked; Voldemort might not be able to do magic anymore," Hermione whispered, scanning the table for eavesdroppers.

"WHAT?"

"Ron, shut up," Harry hissed as every head at the table turned to look at them. Harry smiled and waved, and most everybody went back about their business.

"That would be a good thing, though, Hermione." Harry told her, quite rationally. "Shouldn't we all be celebrating?"

"If that's the case Severus is probably dead," Hermione said in a deadened whisper.

"Shouldn't we be celebrating?" Ron asked before he could stop himself, and immediately regretted it.

Hermione turned to Ron, eyes full of rage and tears.

"Ron, why can't you learn to shut your god damned mouth?" Harry asked, glaring daggers. He turned to Hermione quickly, pleading. "Hermione, he didn't mean it."

"Yes he did." Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and cleared her throat. "I'm going back to bed." She was outraged, but she didn't feel that right now was the best time to get into an argument; she might say something that she would regret later.

"I'm sorry," Ron said hurriedly. "Harry's right; I didn't mean it. Just came out."

Hermione shook her head. "I don't care, not right now." She left the great hall quietly, and went down to Severus' office

Harry leaned across the table and hit Ron as hard as he could from the odd angle. "You're an idiot."

Ron clutched his jaw. "You didn't have to hit me."

"You deserved it."

Severus apparated to his house into the foyer and sank down into one of the large leather chairs in the corner.

Shit, his head was pounding.

"Shit!" he said it aloud.

"SHIT!"

Hermione walked through the empty potions room, tears streaming unbidden down her face now.

Why was Ron such an ass? If he was really in love with her she could think of lots of better ways to show it.

She grabbed the jar of floo powder off Severus' desk and threw the entire thing against the bricks at the back of the fireplace. She stepped into the flames and the only thing running through her mind was that she should quit crying, before some of the soot got in her eyes and created lye.

Severus looked up as the fire suddenly roared up. Hermione stepped through the grate and blinked tears out of her eyes at the sight of Severus.

"Oh thank god," she said in an exhale, and ran across the room into his arms.

Severus had been getting up out of his chair, and found himself slammed back into it as Hermione threw herself into his arms and covered him in tears.

"It's okay," Severus said into her hair. "I'm alright."

Hermione gathered herself together and leaned back to look at him. "What happened?"

"The potion worked like we suspected. Lucius killed Voldemort. I convinced him that a mob of death eaters would be sending hexes at him from every direction as they vied for power if he didn't share command with me."

"So, you're the new Dark Lord?"

"Half of him," Severus clarified.

"What are you going to do?"

"Tell Dumbledore, I suppose." He sighed. "It was hard enough being a spy. Staying undercover as the Dark Lord, that tends to get a lot more complicated. I've done horrible things so that I didn't blow my cover, but I still have morals. I just don't know if I can do this."

Hermione was straddling Severus' lap. She shifted her weight forward and planted her lips on his. "I have faith in you."

Author's Note: Well, there's some resolution for you lot. Next chapter will have some more of the fluff you ravel like so much. Please review; let me know what you like and what you don't.

Thanks: I debated whether I should keep doing these now that they have the reply feature, but personalized responses seem to encourage helpful reviews.

RagamuffinSundrop: Mmm smores! Thanks for the advise; I always kind of figured the point of fanfiction was to have the characters a little OOC anyway.

Crownhearthands: What, specifically, struck you as cheesy? Unfortunately, I no longer have a sounding board to eliminate that sort of thing, but I do appreciate constructive criticism. If you could be a little more specific I can cut down on the cheese.

Dream of the Night: Yeah, I still think Sev is friendly too. I'm glad at least one of my original crew is still reading, you guys are the reason I started writing on this again. Guilt can be a powerful motive.

…: What's with the dots anyway? I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I am going to finish even if my only obligations are in my head. It could be a few more weeks though, so you're going to have to bear with me.

Also thanks to, Junsui, KK Duke, notwritten, Artemis-Eureka, and Smiles28. I'm glad you're enjoying my story, and I'll try to keep updating as often as I can.


	24. If I Ever Leave This World Alive

Author's Note: Believe it or not kids, but I actually have this finished. There's one more chapter after this and then an epilogue. I have them written out in a notebook, but it'll probably be another week before I have them typed and posted. After that I'll do a re-write and fill in any remaining plot holes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters (so stop asking me.) If I Ever Leave This World Alive is a song by Flogging Molly.

Eternally Yours

Chapter 24

If I Ever Leave This World Alive

-------------------

"I should really go report to Dumbledore," Severus was mumbling, but Hermione wasn't listening. Which was okay, because he wasn't that interested in going anywhere just at the moment.

Hermione looked up from her ministrations at Severus' neck. "You can give me twenty minutes. I'm sick of the Dark Lord affecting my sex life."

Severus considered reminding Hermione that currently the Dark Lord was her sex life, but decided he rather liked his current position.

Hermione was straddling Severus' lap where he sat in the armchair, greedily kissing every inch of his body that she could reach. Severus had long since relieved her of her blouse, and it was about to be joined on the floor by Hermione's bra.

Hermione shivered as Severus tangled one hand into the hair at the nape of her neck. She threw her head back and breathed heavily out of her nostrils. Severus brushed a thumb over one of Hermione's nipples, eliciting a low moan.

Severus was going for the zipper on her jeans when a loud popping noise announced the entrance of a third party. Hermione didn't even notice, but Severus shoved her to the other armchair and conjured a blanket to cover her from sight.

What was it with damn Malfoys entering unannounced when he was in the middle of something?

"What are you doing here, Lucius?" Snape asked. He stood, ignoring the obvious bulge in the front of his robes.

Lucius' eyes flicked over to the chair where Hermione was hiding under the blanket. "Is that my wife or the mudblood?"

"Which answer would be more likely to result in you leaving?" Severus asked.

"I was thinking."

"Well, I think that under the circumstances you should be doing that at Riddle manor."

"You see, that's what I've been thinking about," Lucius said, drawing his wand.

Severus had his wand aimed at Lucius' chest before the other man could even think of firing a hex at him. "Put your wand down, Lucius. Haven't we just been over this?"

"I've been thinking."

"Yes, you said that."

"I don't think that our little agreement is really going to work out."

"Do you think we could talk about this later? I was in the middle of something."

Lucius narrowed his eyes. "That something better not be my wife, Severus."

"No, I wouldn't bother. It's not fun anymore, now that you know. It's the mudblood, but after this I'm going to have to wipe her memory and start all over."

"Oh,' Lucius smiled. "In that case," he shifted his wand back to Severus. "I've been thinking."

"Oh, please Lucius do grace me with the inner-workings of that dark and twisted lump you call a brain."

"I don't think that our little agreement is really going to work out."

"Fine," Severus said, lowering his wand a fraction of an inch, so as to seem slightly less threatening, but still kept it pointed defensively at Lucius. "If that's how you want it, then fine."

Lucius narrowed his eyes, "Fine"

"Yes, fine." Severus read Lucius as safe, at least momentarily, and lowered his wand completely. "Would you like a dictionary?" Severus gestured to a bookshelf near the fireplace. "It starts with an 'F'."

Lucius sneered at him, but lowered him wand as well.

"That's better. Now, you've got me thinking as well, and the self-preserving Slytherin in me thinks that whatever you've been thinking could be a hazard to my health."

Lucius smirked unpleasantly. "Was it the wand that gave it away?"

Severus inclined his head in response.

"What I've been thinking is that you like to convolute things so completely that they go your way before anyone has the presence of mind to second guess you."

"I do have a tendency to do that."

"And it usually works too, but not this time Severus." He brought his wand up again.

The self-preserving side of him told Severus that now would be a prudent time to draw his wand and hex Lucius into next week, but his keen sense of timing forced him to refrain.

"I'm not going to fight you Lucius. I already told you, fine; if you think you can handle it, then feel free. I'm not sure that I'm still interested anyway. I've decided that I value my life over vast amounts of self-perceived power. I'm a subtle man Lucius, and I much prefer a cunningly placed subterfuge to outright confrontation. Quieting a few protesting Death Eaters is one thing, but what about when the ministry gets wind of this? We can't keep it quiet forever you know. What do you think will happen when Dumbledore finds out?"

Severus' lips curled into a wry shadow of a smile. "You think the old man was mad that time he caught us selling fake love potions to the Hufflepuffs and the next day half of their house table had broken out in purple pustules, but that was nothing."

Lucius was smiling now too.

"I didn't think this out thoroughly. It would be in my best interest to keep my head down and not get involved. I'm still under Dumbledore's protection from the ministry. I only joined the Dark Lord in the first place because he promised me a prominent position in his ranks when he took power. But it's been years, and I'm sick of being an underling spy subject to his whims without any of the perks that I've been promised. So now, if nothing else, I have earned myself a nice reprieve from the cruciatus.

"I'm quite happy to settle down and live my life. I think that I deserve that much Lucius, and I suggest that you do the same. If I pass along that you were instrumental in the Dark Lord's defeat, then maybe we can both get out of this clean. My godson needs a good deal more looking after than you can give in Azkaban, or I could provide dead for that matter. We both know Narcissa isn't up to the task. If Draco told her that he wanted to go to Yugoslavia to slay dragons, she would fill him up with sweets, give him a pocketful of Galleons, and send him on his merry way, just so long as he promised to write."

Lucius snorted at that last bit.

Severus spared him the rare, true smile. "See Luci, we can still be friends. I've missed that, with all the power plays and lies I think that our friendship has fallen by the wayside."

Lucius rolled his eyes at Severus' sentimentality. "Alright then Severus, what do you say we do exactly? Just lay low for a few days and let the others fend for themselves?"

"Well, that would be admirably Slytherin of us, but I think that there's something you have forgotten to take into account."

"And what is that?"

But Severus was saved explaining as the very something in question appeared next to her brother-in-law with a loud 'pop' and began shrieking.

"YOU FILTHY TRAITOR! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Severus' wand was in his hand in a second, just in time to counter the first hex Bellatrix shot his way.

"HOW DARE YOU BETRAY MY LORD? YOU'RE NOT EVEN FIT TO LICK THE FILTH FROM HIS BOOTS, YOU FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR SCUM!"

"You sound like your aunt, Bella." Severus fired a curse at her, and she easily countered it. "Pleasant woman, she was quite fond of calling me a blood traitor as well, though I think you put the word filth to better use."

Severus dodged Bellatrix's next curse, and ended up standing right in front of Hermione. He looked pleadingly to Lucius, who was standing to the side of the tussle.

Lucius frowned and looked down at his wand. It was pretty clear where his loyalties lie: with himself, like always. But beyond that, he couldn't seem to decide, probably because there wasn't a clear winner yet.

Well, that was just great; meanwhile, Bellatrix was closing the distance between them.

Hermione nudged the back of one of his knees, and he almost got hit by a curse from Bellatrix.

"Damn," he hissed, as the sleeve of his robes was singed.

Bellatrix let out a cackle, her eyes dancing back and forth in their sockets wildly.

"You're going to die now Severus, and before you do I want you to know what it is you're dying for. I want you to know what it is you've done.

She was advancing on him slowly, deliberately, her eyes burning with rage.

"We were going to make a better world, Severus. The Dark Lord had such wondrous things planned for us, and you've ruined it all. The muggles were going to finally learn their rightful place, and we were going to send all the mudbloods back to the filth where they belong." She hissed, and spared Lucius her first glance since she arrived, and then quickly looked back to Severus. "And blood traitors like you and Lucius get a special…"

But whatever it was that was so special they never found out. At just that moment Bellatrix was knocked back by three spells.

Lucius seemed to think that being called a blood traitor was enough to finally make him choose a side. He said, "Serpensortius," in a manner lethargic enough to maintain plausible deniability later if necessary.

At the same time, Severus gave Hermione the signal she'd been waiting for, and they both fired curses at Bellatrix simultaneously.

Hermione threw back her blanket and screamed, "Avis oppugno!"

Severus grabbed Hermione around the waist a she did, and joined it with, "Sectumsempra!"

Bellatrix was knocked to the floor by the flock of birds that flew from Hermione's wand. Lying flat on her back, she had just enough time to feel Lucius' snakes strike before she was sliced open by Severus' favorite bit of foolish wand waving. Bellatrix let out one final shriek, and then the birds converged on her.

Lucius let out a startled gasp.

Hermione buried her face in Severus' shoulder and sobbed. Severus held her tight and turned to Lucius.

"Narcissa won't be pleased; we killed her sister."

"You killed her sister," Lucius clarified. "I just shot some snakes at her." He grimaced at the sight before him. "I think your mudblood's birds are finishing them off now, or is that a bit of Bella? I don't think Narcissa will mind much anyway. Bella was a bitch. Draco won't be pleased though, better not tell him that the mudblood's birds ate his favorite aunt; he doesn't like her much." Lucius narrowed his eyes at the pair of them licentiously. "Nice body on her though. I have a couple hours if you feel like repaying me for the use of my wife."

Hermione turned towards him, one arm covering her bare breasts, her other gripping her wand. "If you think the birds were bad, you should see what a mudblood can do with those snakes of yours. It's not your fault that you can't control them properly though, all that inbreeding is bound to throw off a few defects sooner or later."

Severus smirked, and cut Lucius off before he could retort. "I think you were leaving Luci. I have something I need to finish."

-------------------

Author's note: I'm not too sure about that chapter. Does it feel too forced? Please review.


	25. Big Damn Heroes

Author's Note: My epilogue is taking a little longer than first anticipated, but it's pretty much done; it just needs some editing. I will have it up some time next week, so that I can have this story finished before school starts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. "Big damn heroes," is a line from the television series Firefly.

Eternally Yours

Chapter 25

Big Damn Heroes

-------------------

"Is it over then?" Severus asked, after the short silence that followed his report to Dumbledore. Hermione was still a little shook up over Bellatrix's gruesome death, and Severus had asked her to remain in Gryffindor tower while he reported to Dumbledore alone. She was probably relating the day's events to Potter and Weasley at that very moment.

Dumbledore let out a long sigh, and pinched the bridge of his crooked nose. "I wish I could tell you that it was Severus, but it's impossible to know for sure. It has come to my attention that Tom Riddle may have taken certain precautions against his imminent death by splitting his soul into a series of Horcruxes. This information, coupled as it is with the prophesy about Harry Potter, leads me to believe that we may yet again be forced to consider the possibility that Voldemort may not be dead."

"A _series _of Horcruxes? So this was all for nothing?" Severus' breath hitched in his throat. His head was spinning. All of the horrible things he'd done for the order, all his years as a spy, the lies, the double life, all of it was for naught. The Dark Lord was just coming back, again.

Albus seemed to know his mind, because he patted Severus gently on the hand, trying to reassure him.

Severus looked up at him, and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled maddeningly.

"Not at all, my dear Severus. Not, for nothing. You've bought us time."

"Time?" Severus asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Time for what exactly, Albus? Time for him to remount his forces _again?_ Time for the death eaters to scatter to the four winds? Time for Lucius to turn my godson into a dark wizard? Time for us to grow old and senile?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly at Severus' cynicism. "Time for Harry to grow up, Severus. Time for him to be ready when the world has greatest need for him. Time for us to prepare him for what I hate myself for asking him to do. Maybe even time to get ahead of Voldemort this time around, so that no more innocents need die."

Severus frowned. "And, what about me? I think that maybe by betraying Voldemort I might just have blown my cover; you've lost your spy."

Dumbledore nodded, but he didn't seem upset by this. His eyes actually twinkled a little brighter, if that was even possible. "Well, maybe there is finally time for you as well, my dear boy. You cannot even imagine how grateful I am to you for all the sacrifices you've made, but that does not mean that I am in any way happy that you have made them. You have redeemed yourself, Severus. This time that you've given Harry, it's your time too." Dumbledore got that meddling look in his eyes, and smirked. The old man actually smirked! "Maybe it is time you finally started a family."

Severus glared at the old man. "Don't you think that maybe I should let the girl graduate before telling her that you expect her to bear my children?"

"You don't have to worry about Hermione in that respect. She's a smart girl, good head on her shoulders. She must know that I expect her to bear your children."

Severus scoffed, actually managing a smile, and hard pressed to stifle a chuckle.

Dumbledore grinned, practically sparkling. "It's been a while since I've been able to make you do that, Severus. Perhaps I have finally succeeded in mapping that dry sense of humor of yours."

Severus smiled again, allowing him a, "Perhaps."

"I suppose that Potter's next then?" Severus asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Send him down, would you? Though, I suppose Ms. Granger has already done most of the work for me in that respect. She really is a remarkable young woman, Severus. I'm sure that the two of you will be very happy together."

Severus looked saddened by the Albus' well wishes, which had not been the old man's intent. "I'm sure we will be," he said finally, "for however long it lasts."

"Don't be ridiculous Severus, this is only the beginning."

-------------------

It was the weekend, and the Gryffindor common room was empty of all but a few first years, the dynamic duo, and Hermione, so Severus didn't quite get the reception that he'd grown accustomed to. The first years looked pleasantly frightened though; Snape just loved seeing that Gryffindor bravery in action. But the others didn't seem even remotely surprised to see him.

"Potter, the headmaster wants you." Severus was actually pleased that he managed to sound callous and spiteful; after all his years as a spy, he'd gotten quite good at deception.

Potter got to his feet without much change in his expression or demeanor; he'd been expecting this, of course.

He got halfway to the door before asking, "Password?"

Severus, who was being glared at by Weasley after having sat down and wrapped an arm around Hermione's waist, eyed the first years suspiciously. "It's Lupin's favorite, I believe."

Harry gave a nod, and left out the portrait.

Weasley looked uncomfortable. Under normal circumstances, that would be enough to make Severus stick around and show Weasley exactly what he was missing out on with Hermione. But today, all he wanted was a few precious moments alone with his girlfriend, without the threat of dark lords or death eaters hanging over his head.

"Do you want to go for a walk outside? The sun's shining." Hermione asked, before Severus could suggest it.

Severus stood and extended his hand to Hermione, pulling her to her feet. "See you in class tomorrow, Mr. Weasley," he said politely. He was more than happy to leave the redhead alone to stew. And then he and Hermione climbed out the portrait hole, leaving all that hideous maroon and gold behind them.

-------------------

They were on their third lap around the lake, and maybe attracting a little more attention than was wise, but Severus didn't mind; this felt nice. As they rounded a group of trees, and were finally shielded from prying eyes, Hermione leaned into Severus' shoulder.

"What's going on in that greasy head of yours?" Hermione asked, smirking.

Severus ran a hand up through his hair. It was a little greasy; he couldn't remember the last time he'd had the luxury of a shower or, Merlin save him, a bath. "I was just thinking how odd it feels to actually feel happy and relaxed for a change," he answered, "until you started making fun of my hygiene."

Hermione stood on tiptoe, and kissed the slightly greasy locks of Severus' hair. She placed one more kiss on his forehead when she'd finished, and looked deep into his eyes, smiling. "I'm happy too."

Severus ran a hand over Hermione's frizzy hair; truth be told hers wasn't exactly freshly washed either, but he didn't tell her so.

"I guess I'll have to get used to feeling normal," Severus commented absently, continuing to stroke the head on his shoulder.

Hermione scoffed, "Can't stand being without the threat of imminent death hanging over your head? You're as bad as Harry."

"Never compare me to Potter again!" he said in mock outrage.

She just chuckled and pushed him away from her. "You just defeated the Dark Lord, killed Bellatrix Lestrange, and pulled the wool over on Lucius Malfoy, and you have the gall to think that you're normal. You're just like Harry! Mind you, neither one of you would be able to do it without me." She smirked at him again. "And let's not even go into that whole sleeping with one of your students thing."

"I didn't defeat the Dark Lord, I just bought Potter some time, and Lucius isn't as clever as you think he is. And besides, it isn't my fault that you're such a cunning seductress."

Hermione decided to ignore the second half of that statement. "Well you bought us some time too, so let's enjoy it while we can."

"Funny, that's what Albus said."

Hermione just shrugged. "Smart man, Dumbledore."

"Sure," Severus agreed. "Bit mad, but that comes with the territory I suppose. I mean, just look at you."

Hermione nodded emphatically. "I know! Sleeping with my potions professor, what was I thinking? I must be crazy."

"Only explanation," Severus agreed, pushing back that bushy hair and kissing her on the forehead. "I love you."

Hermione couldn't help but smile. "I love you too."

Severus found them a comfortable spot near the base of an ancient willow. He sat, pulling Hermione with him, and she eased comfortably into his lap.

"So," Severus said, "we brewed a potion that most masters wouldn't dream of attempting, made the Dark Lord magically impotent, killed Bellatrix Lestrange, conned poor Lucius into doing all kinds of silly things, and fell in love, all without suffering more than a little greasy hair. We deserve to celebrate. What do you want to do now?"

"Celebrate?" Hermione asked, incredulously. "A bath maybe, but I don't have time for celebrating. Helping everyone save the world all the time is all well and good, but I've got N.E.W.T.'s in six weeks, and I haven't even started studying!"

Severus chuckled. "Well, I have a bathtub and a library full of books. What do you say I give you a hand and we kill two birds with one stone?"

"As long as there's shampoo involved, you're on."

-------------------

Author's Note: The epilogue will be up as soon as I get around to typing it up. It's really long and fluffy, and it even has a sex scene at the beginning. The more reviews I get the more likely I am to get it up quickly, so hit the button and tell me you love me.


	26. Epilogue

Author's Note: I finally finished this up. I've had the beginning and the end written for months, but I was a little blocked on the middle. I finally just decided to fill the abyss with a healthy dose of smut. I hope you enjoy. Also, if anyone's reading my Snarry fic, I should have another chapter up soon; I'm just going to type it up now.

Disclaimer: I should think that it's pretty clear by now that I don't own Harry Potter.

Eternally Yours

Epilogue

-------------------

A digital alarm clock bleated into the early morning calm for about two seconds before a shot of red light from the bed reduced it to a pile of ash.

"Damn muggle contraption," Severus muttered, rolling over to bury his face in his wife's frizzy brown hair.

"You had better be able to fix that this time," she mumbled. "I'm not going with you to buy a new one; not after what happened last time."

"That guy was a moron," Severus said, the sound muffled in Hermione's hair. "He had so many tattoos already anyway; he probably didn't even notice."

Hermione wormed away from him, and he protested the loss of warmth with a low moan. She patted the blankets in the vicinity of her husband rump as she sat up in bed. "Come on, it's time to get up."

Severus groaned, "Why is it I'm getting up at 6:30 in the morning again?"

"Because it's your son's first day of school, and you need to see him to the station," Hermione answered him, conveniently leaving herself out of the equation.

"And why is it that he can't just floo in with us tonight, again?"

Hermione sighed, "We talked about thins weeks ago, remember? It's bad enough that both of his parents are professors. We need to be sure not to favor him. Besides, it's important that he has the chance to meet new friends on the train. You know how it is; if he doesn't have the chance to meet some of his classmates now all of his friends will be in his own house."

There was a slight movement from Severus that may have been a shrug. "I don't see how it matters; all of his friends will be Slytherins anyway. Besides, he has plenty of friends already."

"Friends his own age," Hermione clarified.

"Having mature friends is a sign of intelligence, and he does have a few friends his own age."

"Human friends."

"There is nothing wrong with Orion and Cassiopeia." Severus was quick to defend. Firenze's twin foals were hard-headed, and, despite their names, didn't share their race's propensity for having their head in the stars.

"Of course not! I just think that it's important for him to make school friends." Hermione laid on her side to face Severus, and she brushed his hair away from his forehead. "Anyway, you agree with me. You're just arguing because you don't want to get out of bed."

He grabbed a lock of Hermione's hair and twirled it between his fingers, tugging gently. "Can you really blame me?" The corner of his mouth quirked as he brushed a hand across one perfect breast.

Hermione smiled. "What makes you think that we have time for that?"

Severus pushed up against Hermione, meaningfully.

Hermione moaned in anguish. "No time."

"Quick," Severus whispered into her neck.

"You're never quick Sev."

"Please?" He joined his hand with his lips.

Hermione let out a puff of breath at the sensation. "When we get back from the station."

"You're being a hypocrite."

"How's that exactly?" she asked, brushing his hand away as it tried to move south.

"Weren't you just having a pointed talk with our son yesterday about procrastination? Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today? Wasn't that what you were saying?"

"I didn't say tomorrow. I said when we get home from the station."

"Same thing. Come on, we have enough time if you stop arguing with me." He moved the spurned hand northward once more, took her hand in his, and moved them both somewhere more interesting.

Hermione's lips curled into the kind of smile that he was after. "Alright, but quickly. If you're up for it old man."

Severus growled. "you'll pay for that."

But, whatever Severus' retaliation would be, it was cut short as a whirlwind with frizzy brown hair came pelting into the room, yelling loudly, and plummeted head first into the bunched blankets on her father's side of the bed.

The little girl gathered her bearings and looked at her mother with wide eyes, a shade of brown so dark it was almost black. "Is it time to go to Hogwarts yet mommy?"

Hermione smiled down at her daughter, discretely straightening the front of her nightgown as she sat up in bed. "You can come with us to the station when we drop off your brother, but you're going to stay here with uncle Albus while mom and dad go to work."

The little girl squealed in joy, and ran back out of the room gabbling excitedly about sweets.

Hermione got out of bed and Severus, having resolved to finish what they had started the instant they got home, cocooned himself in the blankets. Hermione sighed, and grabbed the edge of the comforter. She pulled it all the way off the bed, in hopes of coaxing something resembling life from her husband. With a yawn, she went to the wardrobe and began to get dressed.

Severus was finally venturing a reluctant toe to the floor as Hermione made her way to the door.

"When you're dressed you can attempt to wake your son," she called to him as she headed down to the kitchens to help Dennis with breakfast.

Severus managed to force himself into a respectable set of muggle clothes, and examined himself in the mirror. It was his firstborn's first day at Hogwarts, and he felt immeasurably old. He began to examine the few sparse gray hairs that had begun to form at his temples. He brushed the hair aside quickly, covering it from sight, and took in his entire appearance again. He ran a finger to the lines at the corner of his mouth: laugh lines. Who would have thought Severus Snape would ever have laugh lines? It was his son's first day at Hogwarts, and he couldn't be happier.

Severus smiled at his image in the mirror, and returned to the closet. Pulling from its magically enhanced recesses a neatly wrapped brown package, the smile morphed into a smirk.

-------------------

Severus entered his son's room with the utmost caution. He skirted a tottering pile of grimmoires stacked by the door; the boy had obviously pilfered them from the library in the middle of the night. Severus squinted into the semi-dark, scanning for any particularly hazardous obstacles littering the floor. The only clean spot in the entire room was centered around the brand new trunk at the foot of the bed.

He made it across the room without suffering any grievous bodily harm, and looked down at his peacefully sleeping son with a sense of pride. The boy was almost a mirror image of himself at that age, with none of his flaws. He was half a head taller than Severus had been at eleven. His black hair was somehow softer and silkier than his father's had ever been, even before puberty. He wore it just long enough to be constantly falling into his eyes; it drove his mother insane, but Severus rather liked it. His eyes were as dark as Severus', and his mouth had a tendency to quirk up at one corner whenever he found something amusing. The Snape nose protruded, a bit unfortunately, from the boy's otherwise angelic face. This had been much to Severus' dismay when the boy had been born, and there was no end to the snide remarks from Hermione regarding Snape women dieing in childbirth, but he'd grown into the nose, and now it lent a dignified sharpness to his features.

Severus laid his hand gently on the boys shoulder to wake him, and gave a good shove. He watched as his son's head jerked back and his eyes flew open.

"Whadafa?" He squinted up at his father, and very slowly some semblance of realization dawned on his face.

Severus smirked, "ah, there we are."

"I…, Merlin, what time is it?"

"Morning," Severus gestured around at the room, acknowledging the level of light. "I would have expected you up hours ago, repacking everything for the hundred and forty-seventh time."

Becks cracked a smile. "I think I made it to one-sixty last night, at least." He pointed to the stack of grimmoires by the door. "I decided not to take those. I wanted some of mum's old charms books instead, thought they'd be more useful."

Severus chuckled a little; how could the progeny of Hermione and himself be anything other than a complete nerd?

"I finally decided to go with your old textbooks for class." Whether he should use his mother or his father's text book had been the subject of much debate over the past few weeks. "Mom's had lots of notes about the important parts of the text, but yours have better notes regarding practical application. My reading retention is pretty good, so I decided that yours would be better." He paused, and seemed to have some kind of revelation. "I should definitely take mom's history books though. Where did I put those?" He hopped out of bed, clad in a pair of red boxers, and began to dig through the piles of books and papers on the floor.

Severus tapped the side of Beck's trunk with the side of his foot. "Did you put any clothes in this thing, or did you run out of room after you finished packing half the library."

Becks didn't catch the sarcasm in his father's voice; he was too busy looking for his mother's history of magic book. "I put an expansion charm on it. I packed my school robes and a couple of cardigans, but I had to leave behind the first addition defense books that Harry sent me."

Severus smiled wider. "You'll be happy that you eighty-sixed Potter's books in a couple months when it starts to snow."

"You're right. Aha," Becks straightened up with the book.

"Here, I brought you a little present." Severus handed over the parcel that he'd had stowed away in the back of his closet for the last month.

Becks took the package from his father and gave it a squeeze. "This is an awfully squishy book."

Severus let out a gasp in mock shock, and put a hand to his mouth. "There must be some kind of mistake."

Becks smiled. "I don't remember the last time I got a present from you that wasn't a book."

"Don't be ridiculous; I bought you a broomstick just last Christmas."

"Yeah, but it came with about seven books on flying safety, two more on Quiddich maneuvers, and another one on the history of Quiddich in Britain, so it all kind of evened out." Becks smirked, and tore the paper on his gift. He let the paper fall to the floor and held up a pair of emerald green socks with silver stitching and the Slytherin House emblem on the side.

"You can wear them now, so you don't have to leave any books to make room for them."

Becks tried to keep in the laughter that was bubbling up inside him, and managed to say, "thanks dad," in a somewhat convincing manner without snorting.

"I'll meet you down at breakfast," Severus said, and left his son alone to get ready for school.

The minute his father left the room, Becks burst out laughing. When he managed to get it under control, he went to his closet and pulled on a pair of jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and the Gryffindor sweater that his mother had brought him the night before. Grinning again, he pulled on his father's socks as well.

-------------------

Becks went down to the kitchen after doing another quick check over of his trunk. He sat down across from his father, and Hermione set a plate of food in front of him. Severus had his nose buried in one of his monthly potion magazines. Becks smirked.

"Hey dad, can you pass me the marmalade?"

Severus set the marmalade in front of him, but didn't look up from his magazine.

"The butter as well, please?"

Severus joined the butter with the marmalade, but still didn't look up. Becks frowned in consternation, and then smiled sweetly.

"And a piece of toast?" That got his attention.

"Why did you ask for the marmalade if you didn't," he started, folding up his magazine, "have any," but he came up short when he caught sight of what his son was wearing.

Severus took one look at his son and then sent a death glare at Hermione. His wife was giggling at him through her porridge.

"What is that?"

Hermione feigned innocence. "What is what, dear?"

"Clearly I must be mistaken, but it appears as though my son is wearing a scarlet and gold sweater with a lion on it."

"Your powers of perception serve you well," Hermione informed him. "It does have a lion on it."

"It says Gryffindor on the back," Becks added, turning in his seat and pointing to his back so that his father could see. "Don't you like it?"

"It's hideous."

"You're right. It doesn't match his green socks," Eileen added, emerging from under the table to join the conversation.

Hermione arched an eyebrow at her husband. "Green socks?"

"At least I'm discreet. What do you think is going to happen when he sits down at Slytherin table wearing a Gryffindor sweater?"

"The same thing that will happen when he sits down at Gryffindor table wearing Slytherin socks!"

Eileen snorted through her toast. "It doesn't matter anyway. Becks"ll be sorted into Hufflepuff for sure."

Severus moved the glare onto his daughter, but she just diffused it with a sweet smile. "And what house will you be in, pumpkin?" he asked.

"Slytherin of course, but I don't want any socks."

Severus ruffled his daughter's curls fondly. "That's my girl."

"I hope you're happy, now that you've corrupted our children."

-------------------

Something strange happened in the time between when they left the manor and when they arrived at Kings Cross Station. Somehow the cool collected young woman that Severus had fallen in love with had turned into Molly Weasley. And, as he was suddenly overcome with panic over a missing luggage trolley, he realized that he wasn't that far off himself.

The station was bustling with muggles, and instead of the self-contained confidence he usually felt around anyone non-magical he was filled with a defensive sort of uneasiness. One hand was hidden in the pocket of his coat, clutched into a fist around his wand. His other hand was clutched to the handle of a luggage laden trolley. Outwardly, he didn't look any more annoyed or ready to attack than anyone else in the crowded station.

Hermione, on the other hand, was beaming and friendly with the other travelers. She made sure that Eileen held onto her hand, and she continued to fret over the collar of Beck's coat.

"We really should have gotten your hair cut last weekend. You'll have to prove to everyone that you're not some kind of punk deviant now," Severus could hear Hermione muttering. But, from the weight of the trunk he was dragging through the station, on a broken trolley without the aid of magic, it probably wouldn't take too much proving. He was about to make a remark something to this affect when they neared the gate barrier.

Hermione's eyes darted around, closely monitoring the muggles around them. "I'll take Eileen through, and then you two can follow with the trolley."

Severus watched as she sidled nonchalantly up to the barriers, and made a pretense of scanning the arrivals board before she decided no one was looking and backed through the solid brick wall.

Severus scanned his son's face in silent evaluation, testing the boy's nerves. "We can take it at a run if you like."

Becks rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly. I think I can handle it." He took the trolley from his father and walked calmly into the wall, not paying the muggles surrounding them any heed whatsoever. Severus hurried after him, as surreptitiously as possible.

When he emerged onto the familiar platform all thought of reprimand escaped him. Hermione seemed to have it covered though.

"Careless! I can't believe," Hermione was ranting, but Becks cut her off.

"It's not careless at all mum. The ministry has plenty of anti-muggle wards shielding the platform. It wouldn't matter if I ran around the station squawking like a chicken for twenty minutes beforehand, no one would notice me going through the gate. Besides, dad's the one who wanted to take it at a run."

"It doesn't hurt to be extra cautious," Hermione continued, but she'd pretty much lost interest in the argument; Becks had a point.

"Oh look, there's Harry and Ginny!" She pointed to the other end of the platform where a tall dark haired man and a plump redhead were surrounded by a whole herd of children.

Hermione made a beeline for them, and Severus struggled to follow her with the trolley.

"Please tell me that these aren't all yours Potter," Severus said, abandoning the trolley and wading through the children to stand next to his wife.

Harry smiled. "Just the ones with glasses, and the bun in the oven of course," he put a hand over Ginny's swollen belly. "The two sets of twins are Fred and George's, and the redheaded girls all belong to Ron."

"And they just left their children with you? There may be hope for them yet."

Ginny giggled. "They're getting the kids situated on the train," she said. Hermione hadn't wasted any time in feeling the other woman up, but Ginny didn't seem to mind the invasion of her personal space. She beamed as Hermione felt along the curve of her stomach, hoping to feel the baby kick.

Eileen wasted no time in befriending the group of redheaded girls and proclaiming herself their leader. Becks lingered at his father's side, staring openly at Harry. Harry and Ginny had been living abroad for the past decade; Harry was good about keeping in touch, and he always sent Christmas gifts, but he and Becks had never actually met.

"So you're Harry Potter," Becks said finally, after taking sufficient time to size him up.

"So I am told," Harry smiled indulgently. "I haven't seen you since you were a baby. You certainly take after your father."

"I've been reading about you lately." Becks continued to stare at him, and this seemed to make Harry nervous. "Are the things that they say about you true?"

Harry smiled sheepishly, "Yes, well I think they have most of the dates right."

A look of mild interest crossed Becks' face, but he didn't say anything.

Fred and George chose that moment to step off the train just in front of their family, and the train let out a final warning whistle.

"Hey 'Mione," Fred said, as George came over to ruffle her hair.

"This the wee scamp then?" George asked, looking at Becks.

"Best be getting that trunk onto the train lad," Fred said, addressing Beck's directly and then turning to his brother. "Well come on Georgie, you must know the drill by now."

George sighed, and went to help Fred with the trunk.

Becks looked frantically from his parents to the strange red-headed men that were carting away his entire wealth of books, and then back again.

Severus smiled, "Well go on then. You don't want to miss your train."

Becks nodded; he was finally starting to look worried. He made an effort of straightening his jaw and gave his father a firm nod, hugged his mum, and then fled after his precious books.

Becks finally caught up with Fred and George as they were stuffing his trunk into a compartment at the far end of the train.

"There you go then," Fred said.

"Have fun at Hogwarts," George added.

"Thanks," Becks said.

"Don't bother thanking us," George said.

"Just cause a bit of trouble for your dad on our behalf."

Becks smiled, and the twins left down the corridor. He just shook his head and entered the compartment.

Two redheaded boys and a redheaded girl looked up when Beck's entered the compartment. The girl was definitely the oldest, but the scrawny boy in the thick glasses was the first to address him.

"Sirius Potter," he said, extending a hand.

-------------------

When they returned home, Dumbledore was already there waiting for them.

"I took the liberty and made some tea. I hope you don't mind." He handed a cup to Hermione.

Hermione took a sip, "Oh, this is wonderful Albus."

"Thank you." Severus accepted a cup as well.

"We ran into Harry at the station."

"Ah, yes. I understand that he and Ginny finally decided to return to England so that their oldest could enroll at Hogwarts."

"What would Hogwarts possibly be without the next generation of Potters," Severus snickered.

"He'll be sorted along with your son this evening," Dumbledore said.

Hermione brightened. "Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if they were both sorted into the same house?"

Severus' eyebrows knitted together. "That hardly seems likely."

"That way they can both be in Hufflepuff," Eileen giggled. She had burrowed herself into Dumbledore's robes and was helping herself to the sweets in his pockets.

Dumbledore beamed down at Eileen, and he handed her a pumpkin cake that he'd brought especially for her. Eileen squealed in delight.

Hermione shook her head and snorted at her impetuous child. "Well, I hate to just run out on you like this Albus, but I have a million things to get ready for classes tomorrow and we really need to get going." She put a hand on Severus' elbow. "I'm just going to run and grab my sweater."

Severus watched her leave, and then turned to Albus. "She's been rewriting her lesson plans all summer. It doesn't matter how many times I tell her that they're perfect: most over-prepared woman I've ever met."

"Ah," Dumbledore smiled. "Even after fourteen years, she still thinks that she needs to prove herself to you. From what Minerva tells me, she's doing an excellent job of proving herself to everyone else in the process."

"The students like her."

Hermione returned wearing a Gryffindor sweater. Severus scowled at her, but didn't comment. "Thanks again for babysitting, Albus," she said.

"Not at all; it's always a pleasure."

"See you tonight then. Be a good girl, Eileen." Hermione disapperated, and Severus followed.

-------------------

Hermione arrived at the staff table that night, slightly out of breath.

"What have you been doing?"

Hermione smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Yes, that's why I asked."

"Well, I'm not telling you."

"If you did something to my office…"

Hermione cut him off with a kiss. Severus grabbed the back of her neck and leaned into her lips.

"Oh, would you two quit. The students will be here any moment." Minerva interrupted them.

"Of course, headmistress." Hermione broke contact and straightened her robes.

Severus growled and glared at the old woman.

There was a hollow sound as the doors opened, and the students began milling in.

"I told you." Minerva said, drinking from her goblet. "Hagrid should be here with the first years shortly. I should go get the sorting hat."

"I can go get it for you, headmistress." Neville, who was sitting next to her, offered.

"Oh, thank you Professor Longbottom."

Severus snorted as Neville left the table to fetch the sorting hat. Hermione hit him, and he snorted again. "Behave," she hissed. "What's gotten into you?"

His lips curled into a knowing grin, and Hermione felt his hand move under the table to her thigh.

She smacked him again in the shoulder. "Quit it."

Severus returned his hand to the table, and turned away from her to engage Flitwick in conversation.

Hermione sighed, placing her hand in his.

-------------------

"Are you nervous?" Becks asked Sirius.

"A little, are you?"

Becks' hands were clammy, but he wasn't sure if that was from nerves or the rather wet journey across the lake. "I think so."

"I hope we're in the same house."

Becks smiled at his new friend. "Me too."

"Alright students, follow me." Minerva threw the doors from the entrance hall wide and led the students into the Great Hall.

They all lined up uncomfortably near the entrance and looked around with wide eyes. Becks glanced up to the head table, and met his parents' eyes; he gave them a weak smile.

He was in a daze as he listened to the hat's song and watched his fellows divided amongst the four house tables. The daze lasted all the way up until he heard the Headmistress call his name.

"Rebecca Granger-Snape," McGonagall called out, and Becks stepped forward.

He paused for a moment to give his parents a withering glare, he could already hear people giggling and chatting in quiet tones, before sitting down on the stool. He was bathed in darkness for a moment as the sorting hat was dropped on his head. A moment later there was a loud cry of, "Ravenclaw!"

"Ravenclaw?"

It was echoed almost immediately by both of his parents, sounding more incredulous than congratulatory. He looked up to give them a smirk, before joining his house at one of the long tables.

"Ravenclaw?" Severus repeated, quieter this time in hardly more than a whisper.

Hermione shrugged. "I guess we should have expected it. Maybe it's better if he's not in either one of our houses."

When Sirius Potter was sorted into Ravenclaw as well, Severus gave out a groan. "You do realize that, barring some miracle, Ravenclaw has the next six Quiddich cups in the bag."

"Guess it's a good thing that Gryffindor's going to win this year then, hunh?"

"Not even if it means I have to hex your entire team," Severus muttered.

-------------------

Becks felt a little ridiculous sitting at the Ravenclaw house table wearing a Gryffindor sweater and Slytherin socks, but he took it all in stride. The other students seemed just as interested in him as they were in Sirius, and he was beginning to feel pretty confident.

"So your name's really Rebecca?" an older boy asked him, grabbing across his plate for a roll.

"Everyone calls me Becks," he answered. "That was just my parents trying to embarrass me."

"So they really are your parents then?" This was a blonde girl sitting directly across from him, "Professor Granger and Professor Snape?"

Becks nodded.

"Isn't that weird: having your parents work here?"

"Could be worse."

Sirius snorted. "How could it possibly be worse?"

Becks gave him that patented Snape smirk. "I could be Harry Potter's kid."

-------------------

"Ravenclaw!"

Severus was still seething that night as they returned home and sat down to have a nightcap with Dumbledore.

"Rebecca is a very clever boy, and I think that he will fit in well in Ravenclaw."

"With Sirius Potter?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Severus groaned. "Yes really."

"That is a bit of a surprise."

"You're telling me."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I think that your daughter is Slytherin bound for certain."

"How is that?" Hermione asked.

"Ah, well, today your lovely daughter asked me, quite earnestly, if maybe I should consider a trip to St. Mungo's to have my eyes checked. When I enquired as to why this was necessary, she told me that if I could see myself properly in the mirror, I never would have left the house in this hat."

Severus snorted, looking much less annoyed, which had been Albus' intent. "Cheeky little thing, isn't she?"

Hermione looked appalled.

Albus fingered the brim of the hat in question sheepishly. It was a very whimsical shade of lavender to match his robes, which would be okay save for the rather poor rendition of a dragon done in orange embroidery. "Perhaps I'm a bit out of style in my old age. Maybe I should take advantage of your daughter's keen fashion sense, and take her shopping with me tomorrow." Dumbledore set his glass down and began to pull on his robe.

Hermione and Severus rose as well.

Hermione gave him a quick hug. "Thanks again. Eileen will be back in school next week and we won't need a sitter."

"Really Hermione, no need to thank me. It's always a pleasure. If I'm left to my own defenses I get up to all sorts of trouble." He winked at her. "Goodnight now."

"Goodnight."

The moment Albus was gone, Severus grabbed Hermione by the waist and pulled her roughly to his chest.

Hermione giggled into his neck. "What has gotten into you today?"

Severus began unbuttoning her robes. "What do you mean?"

"You can't keep your hands off me."

Severus ran a hand over her bottom. "We got back from the station hours ago."

Hermione bit her lip and looked up into his eyes. "Dumbledore was here, what was I supposed to do?"

"We still haven't had sex in your office."

"And we're not going to."

Severus unbuttoned his collar. "We had sex in mine."

"That doesn't count." Hermione pulled off her t-shirt, grabbed the cuff of Severus' robes and led him into the sitting room.

Severus watched the line of her back. He liked the way she looked in just jeans and her bra. Her hips sidled back and forth, and the tips of her hair were brushing across her small delicate shoulder blades. "Why doesn't that count." He spun her and kissed her as he pulled her down on the couch on top of him. "You had four orgasms."

"I was seventeen. It was test anxiety. I was weak. It won't happen again. And I was seventeen, four orgasms isn't such an accomplishment, so don't look so smug." She bit his jaw, lightly, just under his ear.

"You don't think I can do it again?"

Hermione finished unbuttoning his shirt for him. "I'm happy to let you try."

"And what do I get?"

"For four orgasms?" She sat up in his lap and unhooked her bra.

Severus lost his shirt and leaned forward to lick one of her nipples. "Four."

"We can have sex in my office."

"Anytime I want?"

"Well, I don't…" what she was going to say was lost in a moan as he did something really interesting with the hand that wasn't unbuttoning his trousers. "Anytime you want."

"Then we have a deal."

Severus slid out from under her and finished removing his trousers, batting her hand away as she reached for her own zipper. He leaned over her, brushing his lips against her naval as he did, and undid the button with his teeth. His hair brushed across her belly, and Hermione bit her lip again to stifle a moan. Severus caught that moan with a kiss. Cupping her breast and teasing the nipple with the thumb of one hand, he used the free one to unzip her jeans.

Hermione parted his lips with the tip of her tongue, seeking the sweet taste of peppermint that still lingered, from dessert, on his breath. Severus let her have her way with his mouth, and, abandoning her breast, used both hands to slip her jeans and panties down over her narrow hips.

She lost contact long enough to let out a deep hollow breath as she relished the sensation of the stiff denim brushing across her hips and down her thighs. The breath deepened into a moan as she felt Severus' skin against her own, and she felt him hard against her stomach.

"Oh god, Sev," she let out, as he grabbed her on either side, just above her hips, and entered her with one slow steady motion.

He suckled the sensitive spot in the hollow of her left shoulder, as he pulled out again, and Hermione threw her head back against the arm of the sofa and closed her eyes. As he thrust in again, he moved his mouth down from the hollow of her shoulder to the already sensitive nipple and bit down. With that, her head popped up again, and she bucked her hips into his.

Severus deepened the motion, pushing their bodies together, and she moaned. Her skin began to quiver all over as Severus found his rhythm, and within minutes he had her breathing hard and flailing under him. As Hermione's breaths slowed and she let out a gasp, Severus pushed himself into her again and paused.

He brushed her hair behind her ear, cupped her cheek, and leaned in to whisper, "That's one," before he pulled away and took up a new rhythm: faster now.

-------------------

Hermione sat at the breakfast table the next morning, completely exhausted, nursing a cup of tea. Severus was in a similar condition, but with a smug grin plastered on his face.

"That was stupid," Hermione finally said. "We both have classes all day today."

"You said you wanted four."

Hermione smiled a little. "That was actually five, but I wasn't going to stop you."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"You're missing the one in between rounds when you were rubbing my back."

"Was that what that was?"

Hermione flushed. "I've been a little stressed this week."

Severus managed to look even smugger. "Well I am good then, aren't I?"

"At your age-" Hermione's rebuttal was cut of mid sentence as Dumbledore apparated into the room.

"Good morning," he said energetically. "Are you ready for classes this morning?"

They both made noncommittal grunts, and rose stiffly from the table.

"Eileen's still in bed," Hermione told him. "We'll see you tonight. I have to go make sure all my first years make it to breakfast; last year one of them got locked in a wardrobe." Hermione grabbed her bag and shuffled off into the sitting room.

"I better go make sure all my first years make it to breakfast as well," Severus added, straightening his robes. "Last year two of them lost track of time when they were busy locking some idiot Gryffindor in a wardrobe." He gave Dumbledore a smile, and followed Hermione into the sitting room.

Hermione was throwing floo powder onto the fire, and she didn't see him snag the panties that were stuck between two of the sofa cushions and put them in his pocket. He smirked and followed her through the fire.

-------------------

They both had classes with the first years all the way up until lunch. The Ravenclaws had double-Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors, and then double-Transfiguration with the Slytherins. Severus was convinced that Minerva had scheduled it like that just out of the pure pleasure of torturing him.

There was a slight hitch in Severus' step as he left the head table, and made his way down to his classroom, muttering about cruel and unusual punishment. Hermione grinned as she watched him go, and gave the Headmistress a wink. It was worth having to put up with the Slytherins if it meant that Severus had to have the Gryffindors first thing in the morning: especially if it wiped that smug look off his face.

-------------------

Hermione caught herself looking at the clock again. It was almost lunch time, and she fully intended to spend the two hours between classes asleep on the couch in her office.

A loud noise caught her attention, and she looked away from the timepiece. She couldn't help but smile when she realized that the noise was the result of her son whispering something, no doubt disreputable, into Sirius Potter's ear.

The smile deepened to a smirk when she considered the spectacle of her son, the very image of his father, whispering and giggling with his new friend. Sirius was wearing his pointed black wizard's hat, and, with his trademark Weasley hair out of sight, he looked just like Harry had at that age. The whole affect was a little disconcerting.

She felt bad cutting their conspirations short, but the two boys were starting to get out of hand.

"Would I be able to start a fire with your toothpick, Mr. Snape?" she asked.

Becks flashed her Severus' arrogant smile, and held up a perfect redheaded match. "You could start a fire with my _match_ if you really wanted to," he said, in a slightly higher copy of his father's velvety drawl. He flicked his wand at a deck of playing cards, which she'd confiscated earlier, sitting atop her desk, transfiguring it into a tiny silver object. "But I'd suggest using a lighter."

Hermione picked the lighter up and, flicking it open, produced a small blue flame. She looked up at her class in interest. The muggle born half of the class were impressed by the magic, while Rebecca had won over the wizarding half by producing a means of creating fire without the use of magic.

"Very well," she conceded with a nod. "Perhaps you could keep it down though, or lend the other students a hand instead of being a distraction."

"Of course, professor," he said, eyes twinkling.

Of all the traits or quirks he could have picked up from Albus Dumbledore it had to be that one! Hermione was starting to wonder if Eileen spending so much time with the old man was such a good idea after all.

At the end of class, Becks hung back from the other students, taking a long time to gather up his things, and instructing Sirius to go on ahead of him. Once everyone was gone, he sidled up to his mother's desk, grinning.

"You know," he said. "When dad yells at me in class he calls me Mr. Granger."

Hermione's lips twitched and she sighed. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing he won't recover from… in time." He smirked and sidled out of the room after his friends.

Hermione let out another sigh, messaging her temple, and trying not to smirk as she considered the possibilities. With a little snort she grabbed her folder off the desk and trudged wearily up the steps to her office. She was looking forward to slumping down on the sofa when she got there, but it seemed that someone else had beaten her to it.

"Hard time with the first years?" she asked, a knowing smile curving her lips as she sat down on the chair instead.

"My only son is in Ravenclaw, and his best friend is an annoying redhead named Sirius James Potter," he spat out each name venomously. "I'm in hell; this is what hell feels like."

"It can't be all bad."

He looked up at her for the first time. "This sofa is quite comfortable."

Hermione shook her head. "Oh, no! I know I said anytime, but I can barely stand up right now."

"Merlin, woman. Who do you think I am?" He held out his arms to her, still slumped into the comfort of the sofa cushions. "Nap?" he asked, his face morphing to a cute inquiring look.

"I love you."

--------------------

Author's Note: Okay kids, that's your lot. It feels nice to finally change this story's status from in-progress to complete. If you haven't given me a review yet, this is your last chance to give me a piece of your mind. I am going to do a rewrite to edit out any inconsistencies, so please let me know of anything that comes to mind.

Thanks again for bearing with me; I know how horrible I am about updating. I'm such a liar about deadlines.

I'm not going to write a full-length sequel to this story, but you might be able to do a couple of one-shots if you try really hard. I'm pretty open to suggestion on that score.

Thanks again, everyone.


End file.
